


These Are The Darkest Days - Book 1 - Kids

by Eve_Iyapo



Series: These Are The Darkest Days [1]
Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Explicit Language, Multi, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Content, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-26
Updated: 2015-10-26
Packaged: 2018-04-28 05:17:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 47,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5079328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eve_Iyapo/pseuds/Eve_Iyapo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four teens constantly find themselves victim to the increasingly violent and dangerous circumstances. The town in which they live affects those whom reside in it in ways that are horrifying and life changing. Something there is hungry and feeds on the pain of others. Will AJ, Kaitlyn, Ettore and Dolph be able to figure out what's happening before it's too late?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Black Clouds

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on FF(dot)net but I decided to post it here as well. This is likely my second most successful story behind Ready To Blow though markedly different. I hope you all enjoy it!  
> Theme song for this fic is 'The Darkest Days' by Dog Fashion Disco

Kaitlyn lay in bed staring at the sky outside her window. It was after midnight and a storm was coming. She watched as the ominous looking clouds rolled through the sky, heavy with rain. Thunder clapped loudly and a second later lightning flashed, lighting up her whole bedroom. Kaitlyn shivered, dreading the storm to come.

A moment later she heard a squeak as the doorknob turned and the door to her room opened. She watched with fearful eyes as the figure crept inside, shutting the door behind him. Her father sat on the edge of her bed, simply staring down at her. His eyes were hooded and dark but they almost seemed to glow with intent. He smoothed a hand over the lump her body made under the covers and chuckled when she trembled.

Kaitlyn took a deep breath, hoping she could escape his touch tonight. "Dad… please… not tonight. I have a big test in the morning!"

Her father seemed to consider her request. After all he always said how important education was for her. His eyes darkened and that was all it took to see her request was denied. He simply shook his head and ripped the covers from her. Kaitlyn stifled a gasp while simultaneously sitting up against the headboard. Thunder shook the house again. Another flash of lightning lit up her room and this time she screamed.

Hovering over her father's head on the ceiling was a shadowy creature shaped like a reptile, there but also not. It looked to be attached, how, she was unable to see but its movements mirrored her fathers. When her father jerked back at her scream, the creature over him did the same. When darkness overtook the room once more she could no longer see the thing on the ceiling but she just knew it was still there.

Her father backhanded her, the force knocking her to the side. "Stop screaming! Do you want your mother to hear?! This is our time! Just us." He went to grab her but Kaitlyn was too frightened to heed his warning. With a shriek she kicked out at him catching him in the chest. He tumbled off her bed with a thud and Kaitlyn leaped out of bed and ran out of the room. She didn't stop running till she was down the stairs and out the front door.

The storm was full blown now. Rain coming down in a heavy down pour, the wind gusts strong and powerful. Kaitlyn just kept running, legs pumping, heart thudding wildly in her chest. She ran through the neighborhood till she hit a wooded area. She ducked underneath branches and dodged trees till she finally came to the old wooden clubhouse. She walked inside and closed the rickety door behind her. It wasn't particularly weather proof but it served to keep her out of the onslaught of Mother Nature's worst.

"Who's there?" called a high and sweet voice. The beam from a flashlight came around the corner and a tiny girl appeared.

Kaitlyn almost sagged to the wooden floor in relief. "AJ! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same question. Kaitlyn? Why are you in your pajamas?" asked AJ, training the light on her best friend's face. "What happened to you! You've got a bruise!"

Kaitlyn looked down, saying nothing. AJ decided not to push and took her friend's hand. "Come on, let's get you dry." She led Kaitlyn to the back of the clubhouse where AJ had a small fire going that made it significantly warmer than in the front.

She handed Kaitlyn a towel and watched as her friend dried off as best she could.

"Want some dry clothes?" asked AJ, as she looked through a duffel bag on the floor.

Kaitlyn scoffed. "Like I could fit any of your clothes!"

At that AJ chuckled. "I know right! But seriously, these are your clothes. Remember when you let me borrow them after that fight last week and I wound up at your house?"

Kaitlyn looked up at the ceiling, remembering. AJ had been jumped by a couple of girls from their class on her way home from school. Unfortunately for those girls, they didn't know AJ and her tendency to black out when stressed. One of the girls had ended up with a broken collarbone, the other, a broken nose. AJ had found herself standing outside Kaitlyn's house in a daze, her clothes ripped and torn and covered in blood with no memory of the last twenty minutes. Kaitlyn had just arrived home herself and was shocked at AJ's state. She had brought the girl inside and given her fresh clothes to wear.

Kaitlyn was AJ's rock and vice versa. The two had been best friends since they were children, their bond growing stronger every day. Any time one was in trouble, she sought comfort with the other. Tonight was no different. Kaitlyn changed into the clothes and was finally able to stop shivering.

AJ wrapped a blanket around the larger girl's shoulders and cuddled up next to her, grateful for the company.

"You know, you never did tell me why you're here," stated Kaitlyn.

AJ shrugged. "I had to get away from Mom. She's started back to hitting me with the old extension cord again. I don't even know what I did this time!" Then sobering, the smaller girl asked. "What about you?"

Kaitlyn stared into the fire. "I ran away from my Dad. It's getting worse AJ and I didn't know what to do! So I just ran." Kaitlyn thought about telling AJ about the creature she saw hovering over her father, but thought better of it and kept her mouth shut.

Both girls sighed. Their home problems seemed to increase as they got older. The clubhouse was the only place they felt safe anymore. It was an old, small structure that both girls' fathers built for them when they were children. It would seem that the adults had forgotten about it. That worked in AJ and Kaitlyn's favor though as it became a safe haven from the abuse they suffered in their daily lives. The two kept it up and brought in new items to make it more comfortable for growing teenage girls.

AJ rested her head on Kaitlyn's shoulder as they watched the fire. Unconsciously they made the decision to stay the night. Going home simply wasn't an option.

 


	2. Wasted Veins

Ettore jerked out of his sleep. A loud sound had woke him up and it wasn't the thunder outside. He sat up straight in bed listening. Another shark crack followed by a wail of pain. The big boy sighed, steeling himself for what was sure to happen as he went to his mother's aid. He got out of bed and crept quietly into the hallway. He heard his father mumble something unintelligible and then a crash as something hit the wall in the master bedroom.

He pushed the door open and saw his father looming over his mother who was still on the floor curled in a ball waiting for more blows to follow. Ettore calmly walked past his father and kneeled next to his mother on the floor. He took her elbow and tried to coax her up from the floor. She relaxed at his touch and uncurled enough to view his face.

"I'm… I'm okay honey. Go back to bed," she whispered.

Ettore frowned. His mother was sporting a new bruise on her cheek. His father could only stay sober for a week or two before the eventual blow up. He turned to glare up at his father, his thoughts evident on his face.

"What?! You want to hit me boy? You want to hit your old man?" exclaimed his father. The older man swayed back and forth as he returned Ettore's deadly glare. "I don't know who you think you are boy! All she had to do was listen to me and do as I say. And if you know what's good for you, you'll do the same."

Ettore stood up to his full height. Unfortunately his father was six inches taller and outweighed him by fifty pounds. The older man, without warning, let his fist fly, catching Ettore in the jaw. Ettore stumbled before crashing to the floor next to his mother whom was begging her husband to stop, apologizing for everything and anything to prevent the beating that was sure to follow that punch.

Ettore curled up, making sure to protect his face and middle as blows rained down on his large body. He could hear his mother sobbing and he thought of her, her face glowing and unblemished. The way she had looked before moving to this godforsaken town. The way she had looked because his father had been unable to bear seeing her frown, let alone cry. That was over ten years ago and this was their life now.

_"_ _At least he's not hitting her anymore," thought Ettore before his whole world went black._

 


	3. Imprisoned

Dolph sat at the kitchen table early in the morning with his mother and father. It was silent as was the norm these days. Dolph munched his toast before taking large bites out of the sausage on his plate. Louisa, their maid who also doubled as their cook sat a carafe of orange juice in the center of the table before going back to the stove to clean up.

Dolph's father poured himself a glass of juice before picking the newspaper back up, making sure not to lose his place.

Dolph's mother gave a derisive and a decidedly unlady like snort as she poured her own glass of juice. Then she poured some for Dolph as well giving him a tight smile.

"Dolph, eat it all. You need to keep your energy up today," she said.

"That's right son, football tryouts are this afternoon. Now I won't be able to come early from work to watch but I expect you to do your best," added his father all without looking up from his paper.

"I can't possibly tear myself away from our new clients today sweetie, but I know you will do well and make us proud," said Dolph's mother giving him a genuine smile for once.

Dolph shrugged. "Yes Sir, Mom. I'll do my best."

They had just moved to this town and his parent's relationship seemed to be getting worse and not better. They had assumed the change of scenery was what they needed to get their marriage back on track but it didn't seem to be working. They were always talking around Dolph and to him but not to each other. He was starting to wonder if they were even sleeping the same bed at night anymore.

"Okay well I need to get going or I'll be late," mumbled Dolph as he stood and grabbed his jacket and backpack. He kissed his mother on the cheek and left out of the back door.

It was chilly outside, the air still heavy from the storm only a few hours before. The school was a few blocks from his house and typically it only took him 15 minutes to make it to the high school. He honestly didn't mind the school. Being the new kid had its perks in a town this small. Since he was from a big city the novelty of his past life had quickly and easily made him one of the most popular kids in school. Girls were always hanging on him and being in the 'in crowd' meant he was surrounded by friends. Of course it helped that he was naturally charming and attractive.

But all the popularity and attention in the world couldn't fill the void in his life caused by having distant, dismissive parents.

Dolph shook his head and tried to put on his cocky face and swag to his walk as he rounded the corner to the school. A frown crossed his face as he noticed three students by the stairs to the front door. They were the self proclaimed bad-asses of the school, The Hounds is what they called themselves. The leader who didn't seem to be quite there mentally was named Dean. The muscle and largest of the group, Roman was generally a silent dude and had no problem roughing other kids up. Seth was smaller and wiry and at times seemed to be almost as nuts as Dean. But Seth also had a short fuse and tended to go off at the slightest provocation.

At that moment a hand touched Dolph's shoulder and he whirled around ready to drop someone. It was just his friend and equally popular classmate Victor.

"Geez Dolph, didn't mean to scare you bro," laughed Victor.

Dolph shook his head. "You didn't scare me man, I was just thinking."

"Yeah, thinking, 'I'm about to kick this asshole in the nuts'!" exclaimed Victor still chuckling.

"Come on let's get inside before we're late," said Dolph with a smirk. The two headed up the stairs, ignoring the glares of the Hounds as they walked inside.

 


	4. Handshakes Exchanged

Ettore Langston left his final class for the day and headed out to the football field for tryouts. He hadn't even considered trying out until his 5th period teacher Mrs. Walker suggested it to him. She was always pleasant to Ettore, seeing his home situation for what it was and so she would try to help him out, feeding him or helping him with his homework after school. It was hard, what with him unable to speak but the woman was intuitive. She felt that Ettore needed an outlet for his rage and aggression and that football was the way to go. Mrs. Walker simply hoped that his being mute wouldn't be a deterrent to joining the team.

When Ettore made it outside he saw that quite a few of his classmates were already out there, dressed and ready. Ettore set his things down and took his place among the others, actually excited about something for the first time in a long time.

Dolph along with the other boys completed all the drills during the tryouts. He was tired but happy with his performance, confident that he made the team. After tryouts were finished, all the boys met with the coach and assistance coach at the sidelines.

"Alright gentlemen," announced Mr. Johnson. "If you don't hear your name called, it's not the end of the world. Just try again next year. And if you're a senior? Well tough shit." There were chuckles heard from the boys at that last comment. After flipping through the list of names the assistant coach began yelling out the names of all the boys who made the team. One of the first ones announced was Dolph and he grinned at his new friends, all excited for him and themselves as their names were called one by one.

Victor patted Dolph on the back. "You made sure to show off out there on the field didn't ya?"

Dolph grinned. "Hey, it's not showing off if you can back it up!" The two laughed until they heard an unexpected name rattled off on the list.

"Ettore Langston!" Immediately there was silence. The more popular kids couldn't believe a dumb mute like Ettore got to be on the football team. However since they were scared of him, nobody said a word.

Dolph knew little about the big boy but felt badly no one congratulated him on making the team. After roll call was completed Victor and the rest of the boys were headed inside to change before catching rides home.

"Hey man, you coming?" asked Victor.

"You go on, I'll catch up," responded Dolph, already heading towards Ettore.

"Okay dude, we'll wait out front for ya."

Dolph walked up to Ettore whom was gathering up his water bottle and backpack.

"Congratulations on making the team Et.. Etorr… Hell, welcome to the team Big E!" blurted Dolph with a smile as he stuck his hand out.

Ettore gave Dolph a considering look, surprised the popular new boy was speaking to him. He glanced down at the offered hand before finally grasping it to shake it.

Dolph shook the boy's hand smiling all the while. "I know you don't talk man and that's cool. I just wanted to let you know I'm glad you're on the team. And I find it hard as fuck to say your name so I hope you don't mind me calling you Big E instead."

Ettore shrugged almost imperceptibly before releasing Dolph's hand. He picked up his items before walking away to make the long trek home.

Although Dolph was confused by the big boy's abrupt departure he was glad he'd decided to speak to him. The smile never left his face as he jogged back to the school and let himself inside.

As Ettore made his way home he couldn't help but ponder the exchange between the new kid Dolph and himself. It had been so long since another kid had tried being friendly with him that he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. And Dolph had given him a nickname, Big E. Truthfully Ettore was digging the nickname. It seemed a nice fit. He wondered if it would catch on amongst his teammates. He actually hoped it did. Then maybe they wouldn't be so afraid of him anymore.

 


	5. Lights Quickly Growing Dim

Meanwhile inside another part of the school, AJ and Kaitlyn were sitting in detention (both for being tardy more than 5 consecutive days) with about ten other students, including the infamous Hounds. The three boys had pushed their desks together to play a card game of some sort. Every once in a while the leader, Dean, would glance over in AJ and Kaitlyn's direction. It was an odd look that was a mix of lust, anticipation and something else. Something darker. Something dangerous. But nearly all the girls in the school were aware that Dean was unhinged and a known womanizer so it became standard practice for most to ignore him and his buddies completely unless confronted. And after all the frightening rumors of girls that _had_ been confronted by the Hounds it became a well known fact to _never_ be caught alone with them.

Today was no exception when it came to the unspoken rule about ignoring them. AJ and Kaitlyn had their desks pushed together, working on their homework as they chatted. The teacher that was overseeing detention, Ms. Jameson was pretty lenient and didn't care what the students did as long as they were quiet during that time.

"What's your reading assignment for the week?" asked AJ as she pulled a notebook out of her backpack.

"Macbeth," answered Kaitlyn, rolling her eyes. "The way they talk is so annoying! And the acts are long."

AJ grinned. "But the play is cool! It has witches in it and witches are always cool."

"That's your opinion," mumbled Kaitlyn before giving AJ a smile. "What about you? What's your reading assignment?"

AJ glanced at a sheet of paper in her folder. "Dante's 'Inferno'. Oooh… I'm excited about this. It's about a man's journey through the 9 circles of hell."

Kaitlyn shook her head. As she reached in her backpack for a pencil she dropped it underneath her desk. Bending down to pick it up caused her to see out the corner of her eye, several dark shadows creeping along the wall closest to where the Hounds were playing cards. They were reptilian shaped like the one she saw last night. Gasping she sat up quickly and turned completely to the wall in question, not noticing she suddenly had the Hounds attention, something no sane girl would want.

Nothing.

Kaitlyn stared at the wall for a long moment worried that the creatures would reappear but also worried that they _wouldn't._ She didn't notice that Dean was staring at her with a sick knowing smile. She didn't notice Roman's considering look or Seth's amused one. Her eyes were only for the wall, searching for another sign of the creatures.

Still nothing.

Uneasy, Kaitlyn turned back around to find AJ staring at her strangely.

"Are you okay?" AJ was frowning worriedly at her friend.

Kaitlyn chewed on her bottom lip, once again faced with the choice to tell AJ about the strange shadow creatures she'd seen, _twice_ now. The first creature she'd seen that had seemed to be mirroring her father's movements, and just now more than one that had been climbing along the wall by the Hounds.

"Umm, yeah I'm fine! Just thinking about what I'll be walking into once I go home," replied Kaitlyn with a grim smile, a lie that was rooted in truth. She was in fact worried about going home but that was the last thing on her mind when she saw the shadow creatures moments ago.

AJ took what Kaitlyn said at face value and put her hand over hers. "I know what you mean. My Mom is going to yell at me for sure when I go home. Hopefully it won't include me getting hit."

Kaitlyn nodded sympathetically at her friend. "Well since we're already in trouble, want to go get some ice cream after we get out of here?"

"Yes!" squealed AJ loudly, clapping her hands and drawing the attention of Ms. Jameson who frowned at her. AJ mouthed a silent "Sorry!" to the teacher, embarrassed by her outburst. "Yes I want ice cream!" exclaimed AJ more quietly this time. "I want cheesecake flavored ice cream with caramel and strawberry sauce!"

Kaitlyn giggled. "That's too sweet for me. I think I'll have just strawberry flavored ice cream."

At that moment the bell sounded signaling the end of detention.

"Alright kids, go home! And don't let me see you back here anytime soon, you hear me?" asked Ms. Jameson. There were murmurs of "Yeah we know" and "Okay" from the kids as they packed up to leave.

AJ and Kaitlyn stood up from their desks and began jamming things in their backpacks. AJ hummed a little nonsense tune, the promise of ice cream lifting her spirits. At least until she stumbled backwards due to a shoulder ramming into her from the side.

"Ouch! The hell?!" exclaimed AJ. She stiffened when none other than Dean Ambrose reached out to steady her.

"Oops my bad Doll," apologized Dean. He had yet to let go of her and the look in his eyes worried her.

AJ snatched out of his grip and glared up at him. "You did that on purpose!"

Kaitlyn's eyes widened. Was AJ trying to egg that bastard on? She moved to take a protective step towards them but found herself flanked by a silent unmovable Roman and a chuckling Seth. She threw her head back trying to project annoyance instead of the fear she was feeling when spotted the shadow creatures again. There were several hovering over the heads of each member of the Hounds. The reptilian shapes writhed and jerked with every subtle movement of the boys and Kaitlyn paled. She fought to bring her gaze back down, to focus on the harassment at hand and not the nightmare on the ceiling.

Dean chuckled. "Naw I just got bad depth perception," the lie flowing easily from his lips. Dean licked his lips and looked AJ up and down, his hands twitching just to reach out and grab her again.

AJ shivered under his gaze. "Look… we've got to go."

"So who's stopping you?" countered Seth. His lisp took some of the venom out of the words but the look in his eyes put it right back.

"Is there a problem here? I thought I told you guys to go home?" asked Ms. Jameson as she walked up to the group of students.

"There's no problem Teach, we were just leaving," replied Dean, his voice dripping with false charm. He jerked his shoulder in the direction of the door and the Hounds left the classroom.

Both Kaitlyn and AJ let out simultaneous sighs of relief. Seeing the concern on the girls' faces, Ms. Jameson asked, "Do you two want me to walk you out of the building?"

They both looked up at the teacher gratefully.

"Yes, that would be awesome," answered AJ.

Ms. Jameson nodded. "Okay, get your stuff and let's go." Ms. Jameson offered to walk with them because it seemed that they were afraid of the boys. She'd heard some of the rumors surrounding those three and although she never liked to believe any student was capable of evil, she strongly felt that regarding those Hounds as they called themselves, that there may be some truth to the rumors. Kaitlyn and AJ followed the teacher out of the school with no further incidents.

Once outside in the parking lot Ms. Jameson hesitated. "Do you want me to drive you home? It may not be safe for you to walk home this late in the evening."

AJ and Kaitlyn looked at each other. Home was usually dangerous too.

"Well… we were planning on going to get some ice cream," stated AJ quietly.

Ms. Jameson frowned. "No it's late, I'm going to take you both home. Get in."

Both girls sighed and resignedly opened the back doors to the teacher's car. There was no point in arguing. Besides they had to face the music sooner or later.


	6. Adjusting Isn't Hiding

Kaitlyn sat in her bedroom, on her bed fully dressed. Things weren't as terrible as she had assumed they would be when her teacher dropped her off. Her mother had mumbled some nonsense about personal responsibility before going back to her evening alcoholic drink and her father had barely acknowledged her at all.

Instead the man had been silently brooding over something, even as they sat and ate dinner together.

It was nerve wracking.

Kaitlyn was fairly certain her father was going to pay her another visit tonight. And this time, she had no designs on staying where he could hurt her. So as soon as she finished eating she hurried upstairs to do her homework before she would sneak out of the house. She changed into black combat boots, black jeans and an olive green band tee before slipping on her black jean jacket and her backpack (filled with school work and a change of clothes). She glanced at her watch and saw that it was after 10 pm. Deciding it didn't make sense to tempt fate she went ahead and climbed out of her window. It took some maneuvering and careful planting of her feet before she finally was able to jump the last couple feet to the ground.

From listening to the other, older kids at school talk there were only a few places teens were welcome this late at night. With that in mind, Kaitlyn began walking towards the local pool hall. As she walked along, Kaitlyn was on high alert. She worried about running into the Hounds, especially since she was by herself. Shivering involuntarily, she remembered how there were so many of those shadow creatures attached or attracted to even, the Hounds at school. What did that mean? Kaitlyn shook her head as if that would stop the daunting thoughts. Maybe she was going crazy. Nobody else saw the disturbing creatures, what other reason could she have for seeing them? Try as she might though, Kaitlyn couldn't stop thinking about her father, the Hounds and the creatures. There had to be a connection!

After nearly thirty minutes of walking, Kaitlyn finally made it to the pool hall. She walked inside and was surprised to see a good portion of the upper classmen from school there. Some of them were playing pool, others were playing arcade games and the rest were just chilling in small groups around the space.

Kaitlyn was nervous about being in a place like this without her best friend AJ but she decided to put on a front like she was comfortable. She sat in a booth by herself and sat her backpack next to her as she watched the goings on. Not long after she sat down she saw a couple of the upperclassmen, a girl and a boy, looking and pointing in her direction. Kaitlyn gulped nervously as the two students started walking in her direction.

"Hey," said the girl as they reached the booth. "I've never seen you in here before."

Kaitlyn shrugged nonchalantly but didn't respond.

The boy smiled and slid into the booth opposite her and the girl sat next to him. "You're parents normally let you out this late?"

"Who said I listen to my parents?" replied Kaitlyn scoffing.

That made both the upperclassmen laugh.

"I heard that!" exclaimed the girl, still chuckling. "My name's Janice. This is my boyfriend, Max."

"I'm Kaitlyn," she said with a nod.

"Well Kaitlyn, this place closes at one," said Max after glancing at the clock. "We're all going back to my house. Do you wanna come?"

Kaitlyn thought about it for a moment. She didn't really know these kids but at this point anything was better than going back home where hell awaited her.

"Sure," she answered simply.

Janice and Max both grinned. They sat with Kaitlyn till closing, just chatting about different things, like music, their favorite tv shows and where they liked to hang out. Once one am hit the owner of the pool hall shut off a few rows of lights indicating he was about to close up.

"Alright ladies we're closed! I don't care what you do or where you go but you need to get the fuck out of here!"

The three teens got up from the booth and followed the rest of the kids out the door. Kaitlyn followed Janice and Max to his car. It was a newer model Dodge Challenger and Kaitlyn was impressed. They all got in the car and it was a short drive from the pool hall to the boy's house. When they pulled up she saw there were already a couple cars in the driveway.

"You're parents are home?" asked Kaitlyn raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"Yeah," replied Max putting the car in park. "They don't care what I do as long as I don't get arrested and keep my grades up."

"His folks are pretty cool," added Janice. "They know I'm his girlfriend but don't care if I spend the night… in his bed!"

Max laughed and leaned over the gearshift to give Janice a quick kiss before they all got out of the car. As they headed to the front door, several more cars pulled up and kids from the pool hall got out and followed them inside. Max led everyone to the basement where they all sat either on the floor or the couches.

Kaitlyn sat on one of the couches and Janice sat next to her. There were murmurs about what to do next until Max went into his bedroom and came back with a dime bag of marijuana.

"Baby?" he asked handing the bag and rolling papers to Janice. "Roll this shit for me? You're way better than I am."

Janice smiled and took the bag and papers before doing as he asked on the coffee table in front of her. Kaitlyn watched her fascinated. She knew it was weed and was amazed that Max's parents let him do drugs and/or didn't care that he did. Once she was done, the roach was rolled perfectly. She lit it and took a drag and held it before exhaling the smoke into the air. Then Janice turned to Kaitlyn and held the roach out to her.

"Here, your turn."

Kaitlyn took it from her but hesitated bringing it to her lips.

Janice grinned and exhaled more of the pungent smoke from her lungs. "It's easy, just suck all the way down like you're taking a deep breath."

Kaitlyn did as was instructed and as soon as the smoke hit her virgin lungs she coughed explosively. Max took the roach from her laughing a little as he took a drag himself before passing it to another student that wanted it. Janice was patting Kaitlyn on the back trying to help ease the coughing.

"That's good girl. The more you cough, the higher you get," said the Janice with a smile.

Max went over to the stereo along the wall and turned the music on moderately loud so as not to disturb his parents upstairs.

Kaitlyn leaned back on the couch feeling suddenly inexplicably relaxed. It was a strange but welcome feeling, to feel all the stress and worry and terror that had been plaguing her for the past few days finally melt away. She leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes, the chattering of the other student becoming a pleasant background noise as she settled into her high.

The next morning Kaitlyn woke up in unfamiliar surroundings. She sat up and looked around frantically until she remembered that she was still in Max's basement. Someone had actually covered her with a blanket sometime during the night. Kaitlyn stood up and saw that there were several more students passed out on the floor.

"Hey, you're up!" exclaimed Janice. The upperclassmen stepped out of what Kaitlyn assumed was Max's bedroom. "That's good 'cause we need to get going or we're going to be late."

"Late?" questioned Kaitlyn running a hand through her disheveled hair.

"For school dummy!" said Janice with a laugh. "I know you're probably still a bit buzzed from last night."

Kaitlyn nodded as it only just occurred to her that that may be why she was feeling a bit slow and frazzled.

"That's what I thought. There's a bathroom over there for you to wash your face and stuff. I'm going to wake these assholes up so we can get ready to go." And Janice walked over to the students still on the floor and playfully kicked a few awake.

In the bathroom, after Kaitlyn used the toilet she washed her hands and splashed some cool water on her face. She was still feeling pleasant and calm and with the stress she'd endured, especially over the past few days, she didn't want that feeling to fade.

"This is good," Kaitlyn told her reflection in the mirror. "I haven't seen any more of those shadow creatures and these kids are really nice." Smiling Kaitlyn changed into the clothes she'd packed in her backpack, enjoying the unnatural calm she was still experiencing.

Taking a deep breath before exhaling Kaitlyn left the bathroom before following Janice and a still groggy Max upstairs and out to the car.


	7. A New Lesson Learned

AJ sat next to Kaitlyn in the cafeteria during lunch. The two sat at a table by themselves talking while eating and occasionally observing their classmates. Today they couldn't help but notice the loud raucous laughter coming from the new kid Dolph Ziggler's table.

"Well I see it didn't take him long to get sucked into the school's popularity contest," muttered AJ. She frowned down at her tray before taking a sip of juice.

"I don't think all the popular kids are douches," responded Kaitlyn with a mouthful of pizza.

AJ looked at her best friend incredulously. "What?! Since when?"

Kaitlyn shrugged. "Since last night when I hung out with a few. It was Janice and Matt from the senior class."

AJ cocked her head to the right, smiling. "Really? How'd that happen?"

Kaitlyn told her how she worried about her father coming into her room at night and decided to sneak out. And that when she went to the pool hall the older kids had sat with her and invited her back to Max's house to hang out and get high.

AJ clasped both hands over her mouth, eyes wide. "You smoked weed!" she exclaimed.

"Shh!" hissed Kaitlyn glancing around.

"Sorry!" amended AJ. Then, whispering she said, "How was it? Was it fun? Do you want to do it again?"

Kaitlyn smiled crookedly. "It was cool. It just made me really calm, like my whole life wasn't shit, you know? And honestly I would like to do it again."

AJ nodded understanding where her friend was coming from. "I wish I could try something like that. But with how I black out and junk, I don't think getting high is such a good idea for me."

"Probably not." Then changing the subject. "How were things when you got home after detention?"

AJ went solemn as she looked down at her tray. "Mom slapped me a couple of times and sent me to my room for the rest of the night. I was expecting her to beat me so I guess I got off light." AJ giggled a little before meeting Kaitlyn's eyes. "We're so messed up, aren't we?"

"That's why we need to finish school so we can get the hell out of this town," replied Kaitlyn. AJ and Kaitlyn stared at each other a moment in perfect understanding. They shared a look that said as long as they did what they needed to do, they could leave this horrible place and never come back. When she saw AJ going back to her food, Kaitlyn's attention slowly went back to Dolph. He was standing up and gesturing wildly. It sounded like he was talking about the football team's first game that was coming up.

_"_ _Well he is kinda cute," thought Kaitlyn. "Too bad he seems to like it here…"_

After school AJ stayed behind to finish an art project while Kaitlyn went home to be seen before she snuck out again to meet up with her new friends from the senior class. She was putting the finishing touches on her painting. The painting was incredibly abstract with lots of reds and blacks, the brush strokes bold and at times intricate. The art teacher was impressed so far and AJ hoped to submit the finished product into the schools art contest next week.

"Finally! I'm done!" AJ clapped her hands and stared at her work. She truly felt it was the best painting she'd ever done. She covered it up carefully and set it on the side of the classroom with the rest of the class paintings. While she was cleaning up she heard a noise that sounded like objects falling. It came from the darkroom which was connected to the back of the art classroom.

AJ's head jerked up. "Hello?!" She heard more clattering and what sounded like the outside door to the darkroom closing. Truly concerned AJ walked slowly and quietly to the entrance to the darkroom. She was scared, trembling even but needed to see what was on the other side of that door. It didn't escape her notice that the floor was wet as an unknown liquid that squelched beneath her shoes. It seemed to be coming from the darkroom. Taking a deep breath, AJ reached for the handle and paused for a few seconds, preparing herself mentally to fight back or run whichever the case may be.

Finally AJ pulled the door handle and an explosion knocked her back several feet. AJ screamed as she landed painfully on her back, just narrowly missing the edge of a table. Sitting up slowly she saw that the entire darkroom was engulfed in flames. The fire spread quickly flowing along the liquid on the floor which subsequently caught AJ's shoes on fire.

"Ahhh!" she screamed as she kicked off her beloved black chucks. AJ got to her feet quickly and ran for the door of the art room. To her horror the door was locked and she banged against it frantically.

"Help me! Somebody help me please!"

The hallways of the school were dark as nearly all of the staff and students had already gone home for the day. As she scanned the darkened hallway she caught sight of a figure in a dark green hoodie. Whoever it was just seemed to be staring at her, not making a move to help in the slightest. Then suddenly that figure went running down the hallway and to the stairwell.

The fumes from the burning chemicals were filling up the art room along with rolling black smoke. Coughing AJ went to her hands and knees to escape the smoke. Quickly she crawled along the floor hoping to find another way out. She glanced up the at the windows and noted with a small measure of annoyance that despite her small stature there was no way she could fit through.

 _"_ _I'm going to burn to death. I'm going to die here," thought AJ miserably._ She couldn't help but think of her friend Kaitlyn and how she was going to leave her to suffer through her hellish life here alone. AJ sat with her knees pulled up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. The fire continued to spread. It was unbearably hot and the fumes from the chemicals burned her nose and eyes. The flames came closer, now only inches from her toes but they seemed to stop there. As AJ looked around she noticed that practically the entire room was engulfed but there seemed to be a small circle around her where the fire didn't reach. The more she stared the more she realized how unusual it was.

 _"_ _Why aren't I burning?"_ AJ scanned the room trying to figure it out when she noticed something else strange. The shadows cast off by the flames seemed to be moving, nearly independently of the fire. Suddenly she saw what looked to be a reptilian shape crawling from the shadows, dark but not opaque like it was made from the smoke itself. Then she saw another and another. Within seconds there were over a dozen of the shadow creatures crawling all around her. The reptilian shaped shadow creatures were writhing and climbing over top of each other in such a way to suggest they were enjoying the flames... perhaps enjoying AJ's fear.

AJ felt her skin go cold in spite of the ridiculous heat. The sight of those things was sickening and AJ closed her eyes to them as she rested her chin on her knees and began rocking back and forth. She started coughing more and more in the smoke filled room, tears leaking from her eyes though they remained closed.

_"_ _They're not real… They're not real… You're just imagining them because you're about to die. Except the fire is burning all around you which is just as crazy. Maybe they're gone now…"_

Slowly AJ opened her eyes and looked down to find one of the shadowy reptilian shaped creatures gliding across her bare feet. AJ shrieked, a high and fearful sound before losing consciousness, slumping backwards to the floor.

It was at that moment that a firefighter burst through the door to the art room scanning the room quickly and spotting the tiny unconscious girl on the floor. Quickly he scooped her up in his arms noting with amazement how the flames suddenly covered the spot on the floor where her body had lain. Remembering he had a life to save he ran out the room as fast and carefully as he could while his colleagues began putting out the fire.


	8. Revelations... Realizations...

It was after 10pm as Kaitlyn climbed out of her bedroom window. Her parents did give her grief when she came home from school but her mother less so than her father. Kaitlyn was pretty sure her mother was aware of the abuse even though she did nothing to stop it. Kaitlyn figured it may be part of the reason why her mother seemed rather ambivalent about her night out. The other reason was definitely the ever present glass of wine in her hand. Throughout dinner Kaitlyn had tried like hell to avoid her father's hungry eyes. Honestly with the way he was looking at her she was concerned he might attack her right in front of her mother!

Landing with a soft thud to the ground, Kaitlyn glanced up at her window, considering the consequences of avoiding the advances of her father for so long. Deciding that it was worth the peace of mind for tonight the hell she was sure to pay in the future, Kaitlyn continued on her way to the pool hall. When she arrived Janice spotted her right away and led her to the booth where Max and another upperclassman named Lilly were sitting. For the next hour or so the four teens talked and laughed and joked around with each other, generally having a great time just hanging out. From time to time AJ would cross Kaitlyn's mind and she wondered how her friend was doing, wishing she could join them but knowing AJ's mother how it simply wouldn't fly. Not to mention she had no idea how her new friends would react to the quirky and chaotic AJ Lee. Kaitlyn groaned in her head trying to focus on the present and the riddle that Max wanted them to solve.

"So, the answer is ONE!" yelled out Max at the table. He laughed heartily at the perplexity on everyone's faces.

"Wait, I'm confused," said Lilly furrowing her brow. "There was like a million 7's in that riddle, how is the answer 'one'?"

"Because the man and his wives aren't going anywhere," answered Dolph as he walked up to the table. "It's just one guy, the one on his way to St. Ives." He'd been covertly listening to most of their conversation while he chatted it up with Victor by the arcade games. Secretly he'd been hoping for a chance to talk to the blond and black haired beauty from his class.

"I guess I'm not the only one who watched Die Hard With A Vengeance on tv the other night," said Max with a grin. Dolph returned the grin before initiating a fist bump with Max.

Kaitlyn had been startled to see Dolph walk up to their table. Had he been in the pool hall the entire time? How had she not noticed him before now? She looked up at him from under her lashes curiously.

"Mind if we join you guys?" asked Dolph, gesturing to himself and his friend Victor who was still trying to beat a round of Pac-Man.

"Well actually man, we're just about to head to my house for some _extracurricular_ activity," said Max, the last word came out in a whisper with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

Kaitlyn fought not to react as she waited to hear the new kid's answer.

"Uh sure man, that's cool," answered Dolph. Then turning to Victor he called out, "Hey man, you coming?"

Victor banged his hands on the side of the unit as he lost his last life. "Nah man, I'm gonna head on home. See ya later bro!"

Max and Janice both stood up from the booth with Kaitlyn and Lilly following suit. A few other kids from the school whom had shown up last night followed them as well.

"You need a ride Dolph?" asked Janice as she looped her arm through Max's on the way out the door.

"Nah I drove here, I'll just follow you," answered Dolph. He hit the alarm button on his key to unlock the door to his Range Rover. He honestly hated to drive the thing because of the attention it attracted in a town like this. Tonight was no exception. He saw Max eye his Rover appreciatively before climbing into his own vehicle.

As Dolph followed them his mind stayed on the quiet girl wearing the hot combat boots and the band tee. This girl didn't fawn over him the way the other girls at the school did, regardless of age or class. In fact he hadn't known she existed till recently. He'd found out her name was Kaitlyn from a fellow classmate but that was about all anyone knew of her, just her name. She intrigued him and he hoped that he could find out more about her tonight.

When they arrived at the house everyone convened in the basement as they'd done the night before. Instead of using rolling papers, Max brought out a large bright rainbow colored bong to smoke their marijuana. Janice went to the mini bar in the back of the basement and picked up a bottle of vodka. Since it was Friday they were ready to really let loose.

Kaitlyn sat on the couch next to Lilly, the brunette practically giddy at the prospect of taking shots and Dolph sat on her other side. Janice brought the shot glasses and vodka to the coffee table while Max and his friends partook of the marijuana on the other side of the room.

"Alright! Let's do some shots!" shouted Janice. She poured vodka in each of the four glasses and set the bottle down. "Come on! Same time!"

Kaitlyn saw Lilly pick hers up first and Dolph did the same. She lifted the glass to her lips and waited for the go ahead.

"Now!" yelled Janice before slamming it back. "Oh yeah!" she shouted before slamming the glass on the table. Lilly laughed at her before pouring herself another shot and taking it quickly.

Kaitlyn shot it straight back and coughed at the strong taste. Dolph took his quickly before turning just in time to see the grimace on Kaitlyn's face as she coughed. He pat her on the back a few times before asking, "You alright?"

"I'm fine," she replied. "That just tastes awful!" In spite of the terrible taste Kaitlyn did enjoy how warm her body felt as the alcohol went down her throat. This was her first taste of alcohol and the buzz was almost immediate.

Lilly looked at her and shook her head. "The taste is not important. In the end it's just to get drunk!" And with that she jumped up and ran to turn on the stereo in the corner. Music blared out of the speakers and Janice got up to find Max, hoping that there was some weed left.

Dolph watched them go with an incredulous look on his face. "Are they always like this?"

Kaitlyn shrugged. "I don't know. This is only the second time I've hung out with them."

Dolph glanced around the room taking note of how the older kids were behaving. "This doesn't really seem like your scene."

Kaitlyn looked down at the floor. "It's not."

Dolph frowned. He wanted to force her to look at him, to see those beautiful but sad eyes but didn't know how she'd receive that. "Why do you hang out with them then?"

Kaitlyn shook her head. What could she say? That if she stayed home at night her father would sexually abuse her and that she hung out with Max and Janice to avoid that while also getting high to keep from seeing those horrid shadow creatures? No way could she tell him that so she stayed silent.

Thinking he may have upset her Dolph tentatively put his hand on her knee. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you angry."

At that Kaitlyn finally looked up, wetting her lips nervously. "I'm not angry. I just don't want to talk about that."

Dolph put his hands up in mock surrender. "Fine by me. Then what do you want to talk about?"

For the next thirty minutes the two teens talked about a myriad of different subjects. Dolph told Kaitlyn about his family and why they had to move to this town and Kaitlyn talked about her best friend AJ and how they were planning on leaving together once they graduated and getting an apartment far away from here. Dolph could hear the determination in her voice when she talked about leaving, the light in her eyes growing bright despite her alcoholic buzz. What could make her so adamant about leaving everything she knew behind?

"Oh shit man! Tyler just texted me," yelled out a young man named Alex catching everyone's attention. "There was a fire at the school!"

"What?! What happened?" asked Janice thickly as she passed the bong to someone else.

"The art room caught on fire. Nearly burned down the whole fucking school. Some girl was there and is in the hospital with smoke inhalation or some shit. A sophomore."

The kids continued to talk amongst themselves. Dolph turned back to Kaitlyn. "That's crazy isn't it? Kaitlyn?"

The girl was frozen in place but a fine tremor was running through her hands that seemed to increase in intensity every second. "Oh my god… It's AJ! It's AJ!"

"Wait, hold up. How do you know it's her?" asked Dolph.

"She was working on an art project! She told me this afternoon. Oh god… I need to get to the hospital!"

Dolph stood and pulled the trembling girl to her feet. "Okay, okay, I'll take you. Let's go."

The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever. Kaitlyn tapped her foot nervously and chewed on her nails the entire way there. After getting visitors passes from reception they went up to the room they were told AJ was in. Kaitlyn was shaking by the time they reached the door. Concerned she might faint Dolph wrapped an arm around her shoulder and they opened the door and walked in together.

AJ was lying in the hospital bed looking pale and withdrawn. There were dark circles under her eyes and her lips were cracked and dry. She looked so tiny and vulnerable lying there and it almost brought Kaitlyn to her knees to see her best friend in such a state.

Dolph walked with Kaitlyn to AJ's bedside, rubbing her shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"AJ?" whispered Kaitlyn. She took her friend's hand in hers, disturbed by how cold it was. "AJ, it's me, Kaitlyn. Please wake up."

AJ stirred a bit before her eyes fluttered open. "Kaitlyn? You're here?"

Kaitlyn almost laughed, the question was so absurd. "Where else would I be?"

AJ tried to sigh but ended up coughing instead. It was a minute before she was able to stop. "It was so scary Kaitlyn! The fire… the smoke… I couldn't get out! I couldn't breathe!" she said once she caught her breath. "I thought that was it. I thought I was gonna die."

"But you didn't! You're still alive. You're tough AJ and no way would you leave me here all alone."

At that AJ smiled. It was a ghost of her usual bright one but there all the same. "Of course I wouldn't leave you. Just like you'd never leave me." Suddenly the smile left her face. It was replaced by a look of horror and disgust. "Kaitlyn… I saw… something." Then as if suddenly noticing Dolph's presence, to him she said. "Can you go outside for a minute?"

Dolph actually blushed, realizing that he should have left the two friends alone some time ago. He'd just been so worried about Kaitlyn that it hadn't occurred to him. "Sure, no problem. I'll be right outside."

AJ waited till the door shut behind him before saying once more. "I saw something. In the fire Kaitlyn. These black things, shaped like every lizard you've ever seen but much bigger! They came out of the shadows but it was like they were made from shadows. They were all around me when I thought I was going to burn to death."

Kaitlyn paled and had to actually lean on AJ's hospital bed for support. "I've seen them too."

AJ's eyes widened. "Really? When?"

"A couple days ago. The night of that storm? I saw one hovering over my dad's head when he tried to…" Kaitlyn shook her head unable to finish that thought out loud. "Then I saw some at school, over by the Hounds during detention and later hovering over them when they were harassing us."

AJ frowned hard trying to remember that day. She remembered that Kaitlyn had seemed agitated during detention and afraid when the Hounds had cornered them but she had assumed it was because the Hounds were very frightening guys. Then realizing Kaitlyn had been keeping a huge secret like that from her AJ balled up her tiny fist and socked her best friend in the arm. In spite of how weak and icky she felt that punch still hurt.

"Ouch! What was that for?" cried Kaitlyn rubbing her arm.

"That's for keeping something like that from me! How could you not tell me about those creatures?"

"I don't know! I thought I was going crazy! I wanted to tell you but I was scared."

"Shut up! I beat the shit out people when I black out but you thought _you_ were going crazy?!" AJ giggled a bit but not enough to aggravate her sore throat. "Now promise me, no more secrets okay?"

Kaitlyn grinned and shook her head. "Okay, no more secrets."

"What do you think they are? Those shadow things…"

"I don't know. Every time I've seen them they seem to be connected to people about to do awful things."

"But I wasn't doing anything bad," said AJ growing thoughtful. "I was just painting and then cleaning up."

Kaitlyn shrugged. "Again, I don't really know. I was just making a guess. How come tonight was your first time seeing them?"

AJ shook her head slowly. The two girls looked at each in silence. They'd both witnessed something alien and strange and had no clue on what it was or what could be done about it. Just as AJ was about to tell Kaitlyn that Dolph could come back in, the door opened and in walked Kaitlyn's father. Kaitlyn's eyes grew wide and she fought to hide a gasp. She still held AJ's hand in hers and squeezed, the smaller girl squeezed back tightly, knowing exactly what her best friend would have to deal with tonight.

"AJ! Thank goodness you're okay! Your mother called; she said to tell you she was going to get something to eat and she'd be back by the way; to let us know what happened to you. Kaitlyn, you've been here long enough. It's time to go home. Let's go." The man's tone was pleasant but hardness in his eyes suggested otherwise. When Kaitlyn didn't move he grabbed her by the upper arm and yanked her away. AJ watched helplessly as Kaitlyn's father took her away and right as he stepped out of the door she saw a couple of the shadow creatures above his head on the ceiling. The creatures seemed to be pulsing with intent in just the split second that she noticed them. AJ's eyes filled with tears as soon as the door closed, crying for the hell her friend was about to endure.

Dolph was just coming back from the vending machines when he saw Kaitlyn being dragged away by her father. He jogged trying to catch up to them. "Hey! Where ya going?"

"She's going home," said Kaitlyn's father turning to glare at the young man. "I suggest you do the same."

Dolph stood dumbfounded and watched as they got into the elevator. When Kaitlyn and her father turned around to face the doors he saw the fear and sadness on her face, the tears spilling from her eyes. Sure she'd been terrified for AJ but this was something else. With the way she was cringing at her father's touch, Dolph was willing to bet she was afraid of _him._ He stood and watched as the elevator doors closed his eyes never leaving Kaitlyn's face. Taking a deep breath he turned to go back to AJ's room until he saw a small round woman enter it, probably the girl's mother.

Frustrated Dolph put his hands on his hips thinking a moment before deciding to get in his car and go home. But as he walked down the steps to leave all he could think about was Kaitlyn. When he'd gotten her to relax and open up she seemed so happy and full of life. But the look on her face as her father had forced her to leave would haunt him. Dolph let himself in the car, shaking his head. When he went to start it up, he saw a messenger bag on the floor in front of the passenger seat. It was Kaitlyn's. He opened it and saw that her driver's permit was inside, detailing her address. Quickly and without thought he put the address in his GPS and drove out of the parking lot.

 


	9. Twisted Touch

"Dad! No! Please! Stop! Mmmphhh!"

Kaitlyn's father clamped a hand over her mouth to silence her cries. He'd waited long enough to feel her, to taste her and tonight he was going get what he deserved. After parking the car in the garage and shutting off the engine he'd immediately climbed over the gearshift, let her seat back while settling on top of her and began kissing and fondling his daughter.

At first Kaitlyn had seemed resigned to her fate but as he got more insistent she had begun to fight. It didn't last long and as his frustration grew he used all his strength to keep her down as he continued to molest her.

"That's it… Yes… You make your Daddy feel so good," said her father with a moan. His pants were already undone and his member was out and free. He forced Kaitlyn to grip him and he used her hand to jack himself off while the other he kept clamped over her mouth.

Kaitlyn sobbed during the forced masturbation of him. He'd never taken it this far before and she felt whatever part of her that still loved him, die completely. When it seemed like his climax was approaching Kaitlyn stared up at the ceiling of the car trying hard as she could to block out what was happening. But then she saw them, three of the frightening reptilian shadow creatures, writhing and jerking above her and her father. Kaitlyn shrieked and tried to struggle but her father had her pinned and with his orgasm just within reach he pressed onto her even harder. She could do nothing but stare at the creatures moving wildly, sickeningly above her while she waited for her father to finish. He came with a grunt and spilled his seed all over her hand and stomach. Chest heaving he climbed back over the gearshift and zipped up his pants. He turned to look at his daughter lovingly, finally satisfied.

"Kaitlyn, I want you to go upstairs and take a shower and go to bed. Understand me?"

The girl nodded mechanically before getting out of the car and heading into the house. She went straight to the bathroom and got in the shower turning the water up as hot as she could stand it. Kaitlyn scrubbed and scrubbed while tears leaked from her eyes. She just knew that the next time he forced himself on her it would involve him inside of her and the thought made her ill. Suddenly weary Kaitlyn turned the shower off and stepped out to wrap a towel around her body and to use another to dry her hair. When she walked into her bedroom she heard the door close behind her and she whirled around to find Dolph Ziggler leaning against the closed door.

"Dolph?! What're you doing here?!"

"Shh!" hissed Dolph walking towards her, holding out her messenger bag. "You left your bag in my car. I came to bring it back to you and to make sure you were okay."

At hearing Dolph's genuine concern for her Kaitlyn fell to her knees and brought her hands up covering her face. Her shoulders shook with the power of her silent sobs. Dolph went to his knees in front of her, reaching out to hold her, comfort her. But as soon as he touched her bare shoulders she pushed him away.

"No! Don't touch me! I'm not clean! I'm not clean!" she cried shaking her head.

Dolph frowned. He could smell the shampoo and the body wash. What did she mean she wasn't clean? "But you just got out of the shower…"

Kaitlyn kept shaking her head. "Not clean… I'm dirty… I'm so fucking dirty Dolph…"

"You're not dirty Kaitlyn. Please… let me…" And Dolph trailed off as he finally wrapped his arms around Kaitlyn. He hugged her tightly to his chest while she cried. Eventually she stopped but the two stayed like that for some time.

After a while Kaitlyn sighed. "How did you know this was my room when you were climbing up?"

Dolph chuckled. "My mom's an interior decorator so I had a pretty good idea which room was the master bedroom when I pulled up. I figured this one had to be yours. Plus the window was already open."

Kaitlyn gave a short tired laugh. "Yeah I snuck out tonight. In the end it didn't matter, my dad still found me."

In that moment Dolph suddenly understood why Kaitlyn had seemed so afraid of her father at the hospital and why just moments ago she complained of being dirty in spite of just getting out of the shower. Immediately Dolph felt himself get hot with rage. How could any parent do such despicable things to their own flesh and blood?

"Listen Kaitlyn… I know we just met tonight, but if you want to stay at my house… you can."

Kaitlyn pulled back and searched Dolph's face. She could see that he truly wanted to help her. "What about your parents?"

"They're out of town for the next week. You can have my bed and I'll stay in their room."

Kaitlyn nodded slowly getting used to the idea. "Okay. Let me get dressed and pack a bag."

Dolph stood turned around so that Kaitlyn could get changed. He prided himself on not peeking though part of him wanted to. Once she was dressed he watched as she packed a few articles of clothing and other essentials into a duffle bag while also slipping her backpack on.

"Alright, I'm ready."

"Okay, I'll take the duffle bag. You go out the window first."

Kaitlyn climbed out of the window, stumbling a bit when she landed. Dolph came out right behind her, thudding loudly as he feet hit the dirt. They walked a short distance to his car that was parked several houses down. Once inside they drove off for his home on the other side of town.

Meanwhile…

"You stupid fucking bitch! Stupid dumb whore!"

Dean was yelling and screaming at a small figure on the ground while Seth and Roman looked on. The group was inside the old abandoned cemetery on the edge of the woods where AJ and Kaitlyn's childhood clubhouse was. The Hounds had chased the girl there where they caught her and began beating her. When it became obvious that Dean was getting out of control Roman and Seth had hung back and watched as the girl's face became a bloody unrecognizable mess.

"AJ is _mine_! Mine! Cocksucking cunt!" He kicked the girl one last time before straightening up. He spit on the girl, unsure if she was even still alive after the punishment she took.

Seth grinned and shook his head. "One less bitch," he said still grinning. He picked up a full gas can and handed it Dean, his body practically singing with adrenaline.

Dean opened the gas can and dumped the liquid over the girl's body, taking care that she was completely saturated by the gasoline before tossing the can away. Roman handed him a lighter and Dean flicked it till the blue orange flame appeared before dropping it on the girl's body. She caught fire instantly, the blaze bright orange and high from the amount of gasoline used. They watched the girl's corpse burn and laughed with delight at the amount of shadow creatures that appeared when the fire started. It was more than the usual amount that seemed to always follow them these days.

"Don't forget this," said Roman with a smirk. He handed Dean the dark green hoodie that one of them had ripped off the girl as they beat her to death.

"Thanks man, sure as shit can't forget that," replied Dean with a deranged chuckle. He threw the hoodie onto the fire as well. The Hounds stood together as all evidence of their crimes tonight burned.

 


	10. Revelations Of A Darker Tone

AJ woke up still feeling rather exhausted. A nurse had come in to take her vitals and that was what had awakened her. She lay there, complacent while the young lady checked her temperature and blood pressure. Everything appeared to be normal and the nurse whom identified herself as Rebecca smiled as she took down the readings.

"Well AJ looks like everything is normal. You can go home today. I'll inform the doctor and she'll probably want to come in and see you before we discharge you. I'll call your mother to let her know so she can come pick you up."

AJ tilted her head to the side. "How long does it take to get discharged?"

Rebecca was putting away the items she used as she answered. "It depends on how quick we can get the doctor in here. Probably an hour or two. So just sit tight until she comes in."

"Umm, can you tell my mom to bring me a change of clothes when you call her? All my stuff smells like smoke," said AJ wrinkling her nose a bit at the memory.

Rebecca nodded. "Sure I can. No problem." As she was wheeling out the cart with the blood pressure machine and thermometer she opened the door and turned back to AJ. "Looks like you have some company!"

After Rebecca cleared the door, Dean Ambrose walked into her room and shut the door behind him. AJ gasped which sent her into a coughing fit as Dean came to her bedside holding what looked like some flowers he had picked outside the front of the hospital. There were still bits of dirt at the bottom of some of the blooms. He stared down at her with his lips pursed looking somewhat amused as he threw the makeshift bouquet onto her lap.

When AJ finally got her coughing under control she scrunched her face up at the flowers on her lap before she looked up to glare at her visitor. "What are _you_ doing here?"

Dean continued to stare at AJ for a long moment, oblivious or perhaps unconcerned with how uncomfortable he was making her. Picking up the flowers he shook them in front of her face before finally saying, "Glad you're okay Doll. I got these for ya."

AJ frowned unsure how to respond. "Uh, thanks?"

Dean grinned dumping the flowers back into her lap. "I took care of that bitch for you. She tried to kill ya, but I murdered her ass!" His hands clenched and unclenched as he stared straight ahead, remembering.

"Wait... What?! What are you talking about?!" exclaimed AJ. His ramblings were doing nothing but pissing her off.

"Leah!" yelled Dean, his eyes suddenly focused and on hers.

AJ side eyed him, wanting to get up from the bed and run away. "You mean one of the girls that jumped me the other day? You… killed her?!"

Dean, once again seemed oblivious of AJ's concern and fear. "She set the fire! She tried to kill you first!" He started pacing the length of AJ's bed in agitation, swinging his arms back and forth with each step. "Boy was she surprised when she found out I knew. Yeah… I showed that cunt the inside of her fucking skull for doing what she did… Burning forever on the Other Side… Fucking whore."

AJ's eyes grew wide and wider still with every word that left his lips. She had scooted up to the head of the bed, the flowers falling to the floor. He turned back around and saw the look of horror on her face. So fast that she barely had time to react his hand was around her throat. AJ squeaked as her air was abruptly cut off. Dean's face was now only an inch or two from her own and she could see the vicious and evil glint in his eye.

"You tell no one! Ya tell a single soul Doll and I'm gonna hurt you." Dean said the last four words in a sing-song voice that chilled AJ to the bone. "Understand me?" He had yet to let go of her throat, squeezing her tighter and tighter but still somehow expecting her to answer him.

AJ's tiny hands gripped and pulled at Dean's wrist trying to get free as the darkness crept in. Tears spilled out of her eyes, her mind racing as she faced death for the second time in less than twenty-four hours. Just as AJ was about to lose the battle with consciousness, Dean loosened his grip around her throat just enough to allow her to breathe but didn't let go. AJ gasped sharply and her vision started to clear. Dean took his free hand and used it to roughly push her long black hair behind her ear.

"I'll be looking for you out there Doll. See ya," said Dean finally releasing her. AJ rubbed at her throat with one hand and wiped away her tears with the other as she watched him walk away. As he was leaving out the door she saw several of the shadow creatures on the ceiling leaving with him.

Kaitlyn woke up disoriented and alarmed. It took a second but she quickly remembered where she was and how she got there. True to his word, Dolph had taken her to his home on the wealthier side of town and let her sleep in his bed while he had slept in his parent's. Surprisingly she had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Now that it was daylight and she was awake she could really see the room and what kind of person Dolph was. His room was immaculate. Sure the family had a housekeeper but Dolph had told her on the way over last night that he always gave the woman time off when his parents went out of town. But he didn't tell them so she still got paid for what was essentially a vacation. Dolph was just a tidy guy. There did happen to be a few posters up of athletes and a few bands, one of which Kaitlyn was a fan.

Deciding she wanted to explore the house she got out of bed and left the room. As she entered the hallway she walked past what she thought was the master bedroom. She meant to continue on her way but curiosity got the better of her and she pushed open the door. The bed was made but Dolph wasn't in sight. Padding softly into the room she saw that the adjoining master bathroom door was open and the light was on. As she crept closer she could see that Dolph was standing in front of the mirror wearing nothing but a towel around his hips indicating he had showered recently. He was gelling his hair in the mirror, making sure that it was as close to perfect he could get.

Kaitlyn couldn't help it. The look of concentration on his face was funny and she giggled into her hands. Dolph whirled around, startled. But when he saw Kaitlyn laughing he laughed too.

"All the magic that you see at school?" he said gesturing to himself. "It doesn't just happen babe."

Kaitlyn nodded still smiling. "I see. Personally I think you could do without the gel but hey, whatever floats your boat."

Dolph wiped his hands on a towel and turned to give his guest his full attention. Immediately he realized that he needed to talk her into getting dressed and fast because the towel wasn't going to be enough to hide the erection that was sure to pop up if he continued to look at her. Kaitlyn's two-toned hair was disheveled and the oversized tee shirt she wore to bed was falling off one shoulder. She had never looked sexier to Dolph and he struggled to form a coherent thought.

"Umm, what did you want to do for breakfast? I could fix you something or we could go out? I've got the check so no worries."

Kaitlyn chewed her bottom lip as pondered his questions and Dolph fought not to groan aloud. What was she trying to do to him?

"Can we go to the diner? They have amazing pancakes! You have gotta try them!" Kaitlyn clapped her hands much the same way that her best friend AJ would have done at the mention of pancakes.

Dolph grinned. "Sure thing babe. Just go get dressed and I'll do the same."

Kaitlyn started to leave but turned back around giving Dolph an odd look he couldn't identify. "You called me 'babe'. You've called me that twice now."

Dolph cocked his head to the side. "Yeah I did. It… I don't know. Just came out on its own. Does that bother you?"

A slow smile spread across the girl's face. "No it doesn't bother me at all."

An hour later found the two teens inside the diner sitting in a booth waiting on their order. Kaitlyn took a sip of orange juice and looked around the diner noting all the different patrons until she came across another student from their class.

"Hey! Isn't that Ettore sitting over there with his family?"

Dolph turned in his seat and spied the large teen sitting with his average sized mother and very large father. He watched the family unit a moment. Outwardly they showed signs of being a normal every day family but upon closer observation he could see that things were incredibly tense between the three of them. When he saw Ettore get up and head to the bathroom he made a split decision to follow him.

"I'll be right back babe," he told Kaitlyn before getting up from the table.

Ettore was at the sink washing his hands when Dolph walked in. Ettore saw his teammate enter the door and he nodded at him by way of greeting. Dolph smiled at the teen.

"Hey man! I saw you over there eating with your folks so I thought I'd come say hi."

Ettore gave him a look that could only be described as perplexed and it made Dolph laugh.

"Yeah man, I know, I probably shouldn't have followed you into the bathroom but I wanted to ask if you would come to my party tonight? I'm throwing a little shindig since my parents are out of town and thought you'd like to come."

Ettore looked startled. He hadn't been invited to a party in several years and was unsure how to respond to this new kid's friendly overtures.

Dolph could see the hesitation and tried to put the big guy at ease. "Look man, it's just a party. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. I just thought you could stand to have some fun. Please say you'll come?"

Ettore stared into Dolph's face for a moment considering. Finally he smiled and nodded. It was a small ghost of a smile but a smile nonetheless.

Dolph laughed and clapped Ettore on the back. "Ah great! It'll be good to have you there Big E! I live in Lake Woods, the very first right, I'm in the center of the cul de sac. Do you have a car or do you want me to pick you up?"

Ettore considered that and made a walking movement with his middle and index fingers.

Dolph nodded still grinning. "Good deal, I'll see you then Big E!" And Dolph left the bathroom. As he sat down at the booth to see Kaitlyn already spearing a forkful of hot fluffy pancakes covered in syrup into her mouth he shook his head but continued to grin.

"What is it?" she asked. "What's so funny?"

"I've got some emergency party planning to do," said Dolph with a chuckle. "I told Ettore I was having a party tonight."

"What? Why did you do that?"

Dolph shrugged and started cutting up the pancakes on his plate. "I don't know. He just looks so sad all the time and none of the other kids ever talk to him even though he's on the football team. I just thought he could stand to have a little fun."

Kaitlyn looked up at Dolph in amazement. "That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard!" At seeing the blush on his cheeks Kaitlyn giggled. "I'll help you with the party. As long as I can invite AJ of course."

Dolph smirked at her. "Of course you can invite her. I just hope she'll be up to it since she's just getting out of the hospital."

"Oh shit!" exclaimed Kaitlyn. "I need to call her, she's probably home by now."

"You can call her on my cell once we finish eating, okay?"

Kaitlyn nodded. "Okay. I'm sure we could all stand to have a little fun."


	11. Let The Fun Begin

Ettore arrived at home with his family in a surprisingly good mood after breakfast. It seemed like Dolph was really trying to be his friend and it made Ettore feel pretty good. He kept thinking about the party and wondering what it would be like while he completed his chores for the day. Once he was done he decided to take a short nap after lunch. And a little after dinner he would get dressed and head out for Dolph Ziggler's house.

It was well after 6pm before AJ was finally released from the hospital. Dean's visit had left the girl so shaken up that she'd had what the doctor assumed was a panic attack. AJ told no one of the assault she'd suffered at Dean's hands and it was just as well since everyone figured it was an after effect of the fire from the day before. Her mother had refused to allow the doctors and nurses to medicate AJ as she claimed it would make her already difficult daughter even more trouble to deal with. As a compromise the doctor wrote a prescription for anti-anxiety meds and told them to get it filled on the way home.

AJ sat in the passenger seat of her mom's Toyota Camry with her fingers playing lightly at her bruised throat while she stared out the window. So much had happened in the past few days. She was almost killed in a fire someone set at the school and if the leader of the Hounds was to be believed it was one of the girls' she had blacked out on not too long ago. Leah… AJ didn't remember it but she had broken her nose. It was Leah's blood that AJ had been covered in when she showed up at Kaitlyn's house that afternoon.

Dean said he had killed her. He killed her because she tried to kill AJ. AJ shuddered at the thought. Ambrose wanted her, that much was obvious but AJ couldn't figure out why. In the end did it even matter? She had to stay away from him. Everyone knew he was a sick, sick guy. And now AJ knew he was a murderer as well.

"Alright AJ we're here," announced Mrs. Lee. They had just pulled up in front of the pharmacy. "Here's your script. While you get it filled I'm going into the gas station for a pack of cigarettes. You bring your ass right back to the car, you hear?"

"Yes Momma," answered AJ quietly. She took the prescription from her mother's hand and got out of the car, heading into the pharmacy while her mother got out and walked to the gas station adjacent to the pharmacy.

Inside the gas station Mrs. Lee almost bumped into one Roman Reigns. She glared at him with her lip curled up as she continued on her way. Amused Roman went to the back of the store where Dean and Seth were stuffing snacks into their jacket pockets. Coming up on them he tapped Dean on the shoulder.

"Hey man, guess whose mother I just ran into."

Dean looked at the big teen curiously. "Who?"

Roman grinned widely. "AJ's. And their car is parked outside the pharmacy. How much you wanna bet she's in there?"

Seth raised both eyebrows chuckling at the news. Dean licked his lips and rolled his head about his shoulders. A grin spread across his face and he clapped Roman on the back.

"Well let's go see how my babydoll's doing. If she runs, you fucking catch her. But nobody plays with her but me."

AJ walked around the inside of the pharmacy just looking at different items but not really focusing on any one thing. She was still holding the paper script in her hand. Just when she began to head towards the pharmacist to get it filled the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Instantly she filled with dread and fear. She was in danger and in that instant she turned around very slowly to see the very reason for the prescription in her hand.

Dean Ambrose stood several feet in front of her, a huge dimpled grin on his face. His arms that were hanging loosely at his sides raised up as if he expected AJ to come running to him for a hug. Above him on the ceiling were five or six of the reptilian shadow creatures, all writhing in anticipation. The prescription slipped from AJ's hand to the floor, forgotten. All she could think of now was 'Run! Run!'. AJ backed up till she was at the top of the aisle and quickly made her way to the next one only to find Seth Rollins waiting for her. He was hopping up and down on the balls of his feet, obviously ready to sprint for her the second she tried to bolt and the four creatures above him pantomimed his movements. AJ's heart was in her throat as she once again backed out of an aisle and attempted to go down the last one which was also closest to the door. No dice. Roman Reigns was waiting for her in this one and he shook his arms out showing that he was loose and ready. The three shadow creatures above him mimicked his movements and AJ was ready to lose it.

The fear she felt at being trapped like this by the Hounds was very nearly the same as when she was trapped by the fire.

"A…J…," sang Dean as he stepped around the corner of the first aisle. "Come on Doll. Don't be like that." He saw her chest rising and falling rapidly with heaving breaths and he couldn't help but reach down to adjust himself. Her fear was like an aphrodisiac and he knew he had to have her tonight and for every night thereafter. Ambrose was never going to let her go.

The Hounds were closing in, stalking her like lions stalking a helpless antelope. AJ looked up and saw the glowing red of an emergency exit sign. She turned and went for it, pushing open the door and triggering the alarm much to the chagrin of the pharmacy owners. She ran through the door but circled around to the front of the building. She could hear the bustling sounds of the Hounds behind her and what sounded like Seth whooping with excitement of the chase. AJ hoped her mother was nearby but realized that she wouldn't be able to do anything to stop Dean from taking her and kept running past the gas station.

Mrs. Lee had just made her purchases and turned to go out the door just in time to see AJ running past. Beyond annoyed she looked down at the ground and shook her head and missed the fact that her daughter was actually being chased. Turning to glare at the clerk she fussed, "I'm so through with that damn girl!"

Ettore was on his way to Dolph's party when he heard the commotion going on at the pharmacy. He saw a tiny girl run past that he recognized as being from his class and then realized she was being chased by the three self proclaimed badasses also from his class. He didn't even think about the possible three on one that might happen if he followed them. He couldn't let that girl get caught by those Hounds. He'd heard too many rumors about those boys and the girl was sure to come out worse for it should they catch her. Without a second though Ettore took off after them.

AJ's lungs burned and her legs ached but she kept on running. As she neared the end of the street, the woods that encompassed most of the town came into view. She only had a split second to make the decision to either run straight into the woods or continue on down the street. If she kept going down the street she'd never lose them, but if they caught her in the woods she might not ever be seen again. On the other side of the woods was hers and Kaitlyn's childhood club house. If she could make it there undetected she could hide there until they left. Decision made she dashed through the thick foliage separating the street from the woods.

Dean, Seth and Roman came to a stop at AJ's point of entry into the woods.

"Damn that bitch can run," spat Seth putting his hands on his knees to catch a breath.

"No kidding," responded Roman. He hocked a huge loogie and spit it onto the pavement.

Dean was less winded, the adrenaline from the chase keeping him energized and hyper alert. "Listen up. We should split up. I'm going straight in. Seth you go in east of here and Roman you take west. And remember… nobody plays with her but me."

Roman nodded but Seth rolled his eyes. He had his own plans if he reached AJ first and Dean would have to deal with it. The three separated and went into the woods after the girl.

When Ettore had seen the girl run into the woods and the Hounds stop at her point of entry he stopped as well to see what they would do. He heard part of the conversation even though he'd chosen to hang back so they wouldn't realize he was following them. Ettore decided to follow Roman into the woods so he could take him out as he was the bigger threat. He just hoped that he could do so and get to the girl before Ambrose or Rollins did.

AJ leaned against a tree to catch her breath. She was so tired! Her throat burned and ached something fierce and it was with sheer strength of will that she managed to keep from coughing and giving away her position. She was about a mile or so away from the club house, her safe haven. Having traveled through the woods often as both a child and a teen she wasn't worried about getting lost. Finally able to breathe somewhat normally she was back on her way. She thought about Kaitlyn as she made her way carefully but swiftly through the woods. AJ wanted and needed her best friend.

Ettore entered the woods where he'd seen Roman go in and was surprised that teen was still in sight. He moved quickly and quietly as he closed in, glad more than ever that he'd chosen to wear his sneakers. Roman had entered a small clearing and Ettore saw his chance. Like he'd done so many times on the football field he ran full speed into Roman, tackling the other boy right to the ground before he had time to register what was happening. The impact knocked the breath out of Roman and his head spun. Ettore pushed himself off of him but when he saw that Reigns was still conscious he punched him two times in quick succession, effectively knocking him out. Sitting back on his heels, Ettore took a deep breath and tried to concentrate. Should he go wide around Ambrose to get to Seth? Or should he go after Dean before he got to the girl? Ettore shook his head, he knew that time was running out and he wanted to get the girl out of harm's way. Standing he shook himself like a bird ruffling it's feathers before heading in the direction he thought Ambrose had taken as fast as he could.

AJ figured she was about half a mile from club house now. Her body hummed with adrenaline and fear, completely terrified of the hell that awaited her if Dean somehow got his hands on her. As she moved through the trees and bushes she tripped over a fallen branch and the impact made her cry out in pain before she could stop herself. Horrified she clamped a hand over her mouth and listened out for the Hounds. Hearing nothing she dragged herself to her feet slowly. Once up she saw that Dean was only a few feet away and her heart nearly stopped. He was looking through bushes and around trees coming closer and closer to where she now stood. AJ took a step backwards and another with her hands covering her mouth hoping, no praying that he didn't spot her. No such luck. An opossum that AJ didn't see and almost stepped on screeched loudly and she saw Dean's head jerk in her direction.

Dean met AJ's terrified gaze and a sickening smile spread across his face. "There you are Doll! Thought you'd lose me in here, huh? Nah, I know these woods probably better than you do." He walked towards AJ who now seemed to be frozen to the spot.

AJ watched as Ambrose swaggered his way towards her. The closer he got the more panic she felt. She began looking frantically over her surroundings hoping to find a weapon of some sort. Spotting a large branch about the size of a baseball bat she reached for it and held it in front of her hoping to convey that she was ready and willing to defend herself.

"Aww, now whatcha gonna do with that huh? You gonna swing on me Doll? You gonna try to bash my brains in? Don't even think about it. 'Cause I'm coming for ya and there's nothing you can do about it," threatened Dean as he closed the distance in between him and AJ.

AJ watched as he got closer. She was preparing to swing the stick when she spotted a very large, dark figure coming quickly towards them. At first she was ready to hit a higher level of panic thinking it was Roman but she soon realized it was someone else. This person ran full speed into Dean and the psychotic boy gave a yelp of surprise as they both tumbled to the ground not too far from AJ's feet.

AJ shrieked as she scrambled to stay out of the way of the grappling teens. Dean realized he met his match in this new adversary so he rooted around in the dirt with one hand to search for a weapon. Getting his hands on a large rock he took it and bashed Ettore in the side of the head with it. That momentarily stunned Ettore and Dean used that to try and get the upper hand, unfortunately even that wasn't enough to keep the large boy down. They rolled around until they were up against the trunk of an old tree. Ettore grabbed Ambrose around the neck and used all his strength to throw him head first into that tree. It worked. Dean was out cold and lay sprawled on the ground eerily in what resembled the crucifixion pose. Ettore stood up and brushed some of the dirt off of his clothes while staring down at Ambrose.

The moon was directly overhead and shown brightly through the tops of the trees. Right then, Ettore noticed the shadows around the fallen boy were moving, jerking and wriggling all around Dean's unconscious body. One of the shadows slithered over Ettore's feet and he could see that it was reptilian in nature, there but not. It brought a startled gasp from him and he jumped back.

_"_ _What the hell was that?! That couldn't be real!" thought Ettore._

Just then the girl was suddenly at his side looking up at him and then down at Dean. "I see them too," she said following his gaze. And when he turned to her she looked downright haunted.

Ettore decided to ignore the insanity going on at his feet and instead focused on the girl. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused. She looked pale and she was trembling. He made the OK sign and pointed to her. Her response was to pass out and he reached out and caught her before she hit the ground. Sighing deeply he lifted her in his arms like he'd done for his mother on several occasions after run-ins with his drunken father.

Hearing some rustling a few yards away reminded Ettore that Seth was still out there and that Roman may have regained consciousness and gotten up. Figuring that it wasn't that far to Dolph's house from where the chase had first started he decided to head in that direction. Dolph could talk to the girl, find out who she was, where she lived and help her get home.

 


	12. The Party's Over... Now What?

The party at Dolph's house was in full swing. As a popular kid and member of the football team he was able to conjure up the necessary amount of guest to make the party fun and entertaining. Most of his teammates came, who in turn invited girlfriends or girls they knew. And because of Kaitlyn's connections to Mark and Janice there were quite a few upper classmen there as well. Nearly the entire first floor was full of teenagers dancing to loud music. Alcohol was flowing and there were a number of teens smoking weed on the back porch, though all of it was provided by the partygoers themselves.

Dolph wandered from one area of the house to the other, making sure no one was attempting to go upstairs and checking to see if Big E had arrived yet. It was getting pretty late and although the party was going to last as long as it could he was worried that Big E wasn't coming.

"Hey bro!" exclaimed Victor startling Dolph from his thoughts. He extended his arm for a fist bump from Dolph.

"What's up? Glad you could make it dude," said Dolph returning the fist bump.

"Shit this is hands down the best party of the fucking year!" laughed Victor. "And you know what else?"

"What man?"

"You know how my mom's on the PTA? Well I heard her talking on the phone this morning and apparently school's gonna be closed until the building is repaired after that fire yesterday. Hazardous and shit. They're thinking a week, maybe longer. So we get a fucking vaca!"

Dolph pursed his lips and rubbed at his chin. "That's fucking awesome!"

"Shit yeah!" laughed Victor. Then spotting a girl he wanted to talk to he said, "Hey man, I'll catch ya later."

Dolph patted his friend on the arm as he went past him before he started looking for Kaitlyn. He found her in the kitchen where a few teens were doing shots of Jaeger at the island counter. She was sitting at the table with a lost expression on her face.

Dolph put a hand on her shoulder, looking into her face worriedly. "What's wrong babe?"

Kaitlyn put her palms flat on the table. "It's AJ. I called her house and her mother yelled at me saying that AJ had run away or something. She wouldn't just run away from home! Something's wrong!"

Dolph rubbed her shoulder suddenly annoyed with the party going on. "What do you think happened?"

Kaitlyn shook her head. "I don't know. I do know her mom beats on her sometimes…. Maybe she ran away from _her_. If she did, I think I know where she is. Can we go look for her?"

"Sure we can. Let me just clear the house, okay? Just sit here." Dolph went looking for some of the upper classmen and found Mark on the back porch.

"Hey can I talk to you a sec?" asked Dolph.

"Yeah man. What's up?" asked Mark. His eyes were heavy lidded due to the amount of weed he'd smoked.

"I need to get everyone out of here. Feel like continuing the party at your house?"

Mark grinned slow and easy. "Yeah… My folks are gone too. Probably at the same convention yours went to."

"Cool! Thanks Mark!"

The two walked into the living room where most of the partiers were and turned the stereo off. All the teenagers stopped dancing amongst groans of disappointment.

"Yo everyone! The party is moving locations! We're heading to my house! Let's go! And don't forget to bring the booze and the weed!"

There were yells and exclamations of "Fuck yeah!" as the teens gathered their belongings and left Dolph's house in droves.

Ettore had finally made it to the cul de sac in Lake Woods were Dolph's home was. He was still carrying the small girl, thankful for her size lest he wouldn't have been able to carry her for as long as he had. He couldn't help but notice the amount of cars and trucks and suv's passing him on the road as he got closer to Dolph's house.

 _"_ _Looks like the party's over. It's just as well…" thought Ettore._ He looked down at the still unconscious girl in his arms as he continued walking. He was now only two houses away but it looked like there were still some party goers leaving out the front door. Deciding it would be less conspicuous he went around to the back of the house hoping to enter through a back door. The back door was open and he stepped inside what turned out to be a kitchen. He saw another girl from his class with her head in her hands at the table recognizable due to her two toned hair.

Kaitlyn's head shot up as she heard a noise from behind her. Her eyes widened in shock as she watched a dirty, tattered and bloody Ettore Langston step into the kitchen holding her unconscious best friend.

"Oh my god… What happened?! Is she okay?! AJ?! AJ!" Kaitlyn got more and more frantic because AJ wasn't responding.

Dolph had just made sure the last of the party goers made it out of his house when he heard Kaitlyn screaming. After making sure the front door was locked he ran back to the kitchen stopping short in surprise when he saw Big E standing there with AJ in his arms.

"Shit… Put her on the table Big E! Kaitlyn go get some paper towels and run them in cold water to put on her forehead." Dolph handed out orders hoping they could revive AJ and find out what the hell happened to her and Big E.

Ettore did as Dolph said and placed the girl on the table, knocking some empty plastic cups to the floor in the process. Kaitlyn returned with the wet towels and draped them across her best friend's forehead. Dolph had left the room to grab something and when he came back it was with a notebook and a pen. He handed both to Ettore.

"Here. Tell us what happened man."

Ettore took both and began scribbling his account of the events of the past couple hours. He handed it back to Dolph when he was finished who in turn read it out loud so that Kaitlyn could hear as well. By the end of it Dolph was seething and Kaitlyn was trembling. They had just seen AJ in the hospital only yesterday! And to find out she had gone through even more trauma since they'd seen her last was upsetting, not to mention heartbreaking.

Kaitlyn took AJ's limp hand in hers and stared up at Ettore. "Thank you, Ettore. Thank you for rescuing her."

Ettore shrugged and wrote on the notebook paper, "NO PROBLEM."

Dolph took a good look at Ettore and noticed the lump on the side of his head was still oozing blood. "Big E… Your head's bleeding man!"

Ettore put a hand to his head and saw blood on his fingertips. Sighing he wrote, "DEAN HIT ME WITH ROCK. IT'S OKAY. I'M FINE."

"You should go upstairs and get cleaned up…" started Dolph when AJ moaned and shifted on the table.

Kaitlyn gasped and clutched her friend's hand even tighter. "AJ? Are you awake? You're okay. You're safe now."

AJ opened her eyes slowly trying desperately to focus. The last thing she remembered was seeing Dean sprawled out on the ground and Ettore Langston being the cause. Abruptly she forced herself to sit up and the quick motion made her head swim. Ettore was at her side in an instant and she leaned against him gratefully.

"You saved me…" murmured AJ with her eyes closed. "They were going to hurt me and you saved me…"

Dolph smiled in spite of himself. "Good job Big E!"

AJ opened one eye to look at Dolph curiously before looking up into Ettore's face. "Big E? Oh I like that…"

Kaitlyn laughed. "I do too. It definitely fits."

Ettore rolled his eyes but a smirk played on his lips. He moved to step away from AJ, perhaps to do as Dolph suggested and clean himself up, but the tiny girl shrieked in sudden fear and grabbed him by the shirt tightly refusing to let go. Tears came to her eyes and she buried her face into his massive chest. Alarmed he gave a questioning look to Dolph and then Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn bit her lip at the state her friend was in. "Um, Big E, she get's like this after something traumatic. Do you think you can hold her until she calms down?"

Dolph frowned hard at that comment. How often did the girls have to deal with something traumatic?

Ettore narrowed his eyes, appearing to think over that request. After a moment he nodded.

Dolph glanced at the clock. It was well after midnight, not that it mattered. None of the teens had any where to be tomorrow.

"Let's just head upstairs. I'll clean up down here tomorrow. You cool with staying the night Big E?"

Ettore thought about it. He hated to leave his mother alone with that drunken deadbeat he called a father but it was clear that AJ still needed him. He couldn't just abandon her. Decision made, he nodded at Dolph who smiled in return.

"Think you can carry her upstairs?"

Ettore gave him a look that could only be described as ironic and Dolph laughed.

"Alright, alright. Let's go."

Dolph turned the lights out behind everyone and followed them up the stairs. Dolph showed them the guest room that was pretty much bare.

"Look I'll have to find some sheets for the bed, but I guess if AJ is unable to leave Big E's side then they can stay in here together…" Dolph trailed off, vaguely uncomfortable for some reason.

Kaitlyn understood Dolph's discomfort and gave Ettore a look. "Big E, can I trust you with her tonight? She's been through a lot as you know."

Ettore nodded without hesitation. He had no reason to hurt this girl. Not after he went through so much to save her.

Kaitlyn saw the truth in his eyes and relaxed. "Come on Dolph let's go find the sheets."

While they waited for Kaitlyn and Dolph to fix the bed, Ettore sat in a chair with AJ in his lap. The girl was still clutching his shirt but no longer crying. Once they were finished Ettore brought AJ to the bed and once they both were comfortable she seemed to relax immediately. Kaitlyn turned on the bedside lamp to take a better look at Big E's head wound.

"Dolph?"

"Yeah babe?"

"Can you get me some peroxide if you have it, alcohol if you don't, some cotton balls and band-aids?"

Dolph left to go grab the requested items and set them on the nightstand before stepping back to watch Kaitlyn clean Big E's head wound. Big E didn't make a sound as she worked, instead concentrating on the slow and even breathing of the girl in his arms. It seemed that she was asleep, finally passing out from sheer exhaustion. Now that she was asleep and no longer in harm's way, he began to feel a little awkward. He'd never been close to a girl like this before.

"Okay, I'm all done," said Kaitlyn after placing the last bandage on Big E's head. Yawning she turned to cover her mouth. "I think I'm sleepy."

"I think you are too," chuckled Dolph.

Ettore smirked at the both of them before leaning his head back against headboard and closing his eyes. Unconsciously he clutched AJ's sleeping form closer to his body as sleep overtook him.

"Guess that's our cue," said Dolph, still grinning. He followed Kaitlyn out of the door and shut it behind them. He walked Kaitlyn to his bedroom door and stood there for a moment just looking into her eyes.

Kaitlyn blushed under his scrutiny. "What?!" she exclaimed.

Dolph grinned as he brushed hair out of her face. "Nothing." Then he did something that surprised her as well as himself, by grabbing the sides of her face before kissing her softly on the forehead.

"Goodnight Kaitlyn."

Kaitlyn's blush grew deeper and her forehead tingled where his lips had touched her. "Goodnight Dolph."

An hour later found Kaitlyn still wide awake in Dolph's bed. She couldn't believe he'd kissed her! It was so tender and sweet that she didn't know what to do with herself. She thought that perhaps she could be falling for him but the thought was scary in and of itself. Kaitlyn didn't think that she and Dolph could be happy together. Not in this town. There was evil here and for some reason it seemed to be focused on AJ and herself. The incident with the Hounds tonight and what happened with her father the night before just proved something malevolent was at work. The shadow creatures might be the cause of it as they always seemed to be around people doing terrible things. Or maybe they were just attracted to people who were evil regardless.


	13. Good Morning?

Ettore woke up with a start, his eyes flying open, chest heaving as panic gripped his heart. Immediately he remembered that he was not at home and that he was relatively safe. In fact the soft feminine snoring next to him served to ground him and remind him that he had been actually keeping someone else safe all night. Forcing himself to relax he turned on his side to study her. AJ Lee was curled in a ball right next to him with one of her small hands wrapped around his wrist as if she were afraid to lose him, even while she dreamed.

Ettore was conflicted about this for multiple reasons but the main one being that he didn't really know this girl. He'd saved her last night because he knew she mostly likely would have been injured severely or even killed without his help. It had been, quite simply, the right thing to do.

_"_ _But now what?" thought Ettore as he stared at AJ's sleeping form. "Do we both get up and act like nothing happened last night? Does she just thank me and get on with her life? What happens next?"_

Ettore didn't have long to wait for an answer because as sunlight streamed in through the curtains across the bed it shined right in AJ's face, waking her up. She threw an arm over her eyes as she rolled over to her back before mumbling something unintelligible. When she brought her arm back down she looked into Ettore's face and the biggest, brightest smile appeared on hers.

"Good morning Big E!" chirruped AJ happily. "I'm so glad you're still here! I'm hungry. Are you hungry? You must eat a lot 'cause you're so big! Hmm… Big E… That's why Dolph calls you that!" Then wrinkling her brow a bit she added, "I have to use the bathroom! Be right back!"

Ettore sat up and watched dumbfounded as AJ bounced out of bed and skipped out into the hall.

_"_ _What the hell?"_

AJ's cheerful behavior was throwing him for a loop. He didn't really know how to respond to someone this energetic and happy, a stark difference from his own personality that was silent and brooding. Moments later AJ skipped back into the room and hopped back onto the bed next to Ettore. She stared at him for a moment, her gaze bright and earnest.

"I don't think I thanked you… for last night," AJ started, suddenly solemn. "And I don't know why you came to save me but I'm really glad you did. So… thank you Big E." And to emphasize the point she reached up and planted a quick but sweet kiss on his cheek.

Ettore felt an odd twinge in his chest as his lips quirked up in an awkward smile. He reached over and picked up the notebook and pen Dolph had brought upstairs for him last night. He scribbled down, "YOU'RE WELCOME." He hesitated before adding, "WHY WERE THEY CHASING YOU?"

AJ read what he wrote and shuddered, her face falling more. "Because of Dean. He's obsessed with me or something. I don't know what I did to get his attention but I hate it 'cause now he won't leave me alone! He even came to see me in the hospital yesterday. He told me that I was in there because Leah tried to burn me alive at school. So he killed her. Then he choked me and told me not to tell anyone."

Ettore's eyes widened. He knew the Hounds were bad news but it didn't occur to him that they were on this level. Ettore couldn't let Ambrose get his hands on this girl again. He reached out and covered her hand with his own. AJ looked up at him and the bright and happy smile was back. She jumped into his lap ignoring his grunt of surprise and threw her arms around his neck.

"You won't let them hurt me, will you? You'll protect me. Won't you Big E?"

Slowly he brought his arms up around her and nodded against her cheek. As long as he was able to keep her safe, no one would ever lay hands on her again.

Across the hall Kaitlyn was just waking up. She sat up and stretched before climbing out of bed. Kaitlyn knocked on the master bedroom door, opening it when she heard Dolph yell, "Come in!"

Surprisingly he was already dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. Kaitlyn hugged herself sheepishly feeling a tad underdressed.

"Are you always an early riser?" she asked with a smile.

Dolph chuckled. "Yeah… I couldn't stay in bed with the house such a mess. I just finished cleaning up about ten minutes ago."

"You're kidding?! I was going to help you Dolph. You didn't have to do it all by yourself!"

Dolph shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "I didn't want to wake you. Besides, don't you feel better? Having had a good night's sleep?"

Kaitlyn thought about that a moment before answering. Truthfully she hadn't slept that well in a long time. Even since before her father started coming into her room at night. "You're right. I feel pretty good."

"That's what I thought," said Dolph. He grinned as he took a few steps towards her, stopping once they were face to face. He put his hands on her shoulders before bringing her to him for a hug. It was a warm and comforting embrace; friendly, but just shy of a full body press. Dolph didn't want to push his luck. So far Kaitlyn had been receptive to his advances and he wanted to keep it that way. He really liked her and didn't want move too fast and end up scaring her away.

Kaitlyn relaxed into his embrace, resting her cheek on his shoulder. "You've been so kind to me since we met. Why is that?"

"Why shouldn't I be nice to you?" he asked truly confused.

"The people closest to me… they hurt me. I mean I'm used to it. I have been for a long time now. All I've had for years is AJ. We've had each other."

Dolph hugged her tighter then. "Well now you have me too." Slowly he released her and stepped back trying to gauge the look on her face. Kaitlyn was looking down at the floor. When she met Dolph's gaze her face was unreadable. She looked away quickly unsure of what she was feeling.

"I think I better get dressed now," said Kaitlyn quietly as she turned, leaving the room.

Dolph frowned and went to run a hand through his hair in agitation until remembering it was gelled back. Did he say something wrong?

An hour or so later everybody was showered and dressed. The four teens were sitting at the kitchen table eating a rather ordinary breakfast of cereal and milk. The breakfast itself became a topic of conversation.

"This is awful!" exclaimed AJ as she shoveled another spoonful into her mouth.

"I don't think it's that bad," said Kaitlyn with a shrug. "Just different. And besides, if you hate it so much why do you keep eating it!"

"I'm hungry! What am I not supposed to eat just 'cause this soy milk's nasty?" AJ frowned into her cereal bowl. Then turning to look at Ettore she said, "Big E agrees with me. Don't you think this stuff is awful?"

Ettore stopped eating to reach for the notebook and pen. "DON'T CARE FOR IT."

Dolph had been laughing at everything that was said. "Look guys I'm sorry. My mom refuses to buy animal protein if it can be avoided. My dad will try to sneak meat and milk in here from time to time though."

The teens continued to laugh and joke around as they ate and once everyone was finished Dolph put the used items in the dishwasher. Ettore wrote something down in the notebook and handed it to Dolph.

"NEED TO GO HOME."

Dolph looked at him curiously. "You want me to drop you off?"

"NO. JUST TO CHECK IN. WILL SPEND DAY WITH YOU GUYS IF OKAY."

At that Dolph chuckled, clapping Ettore on the back. "Of course it's okay dude! Besides, I don't think AJ wants you out of her sight."

Across the kitchen with Kaitlyn, AJ turned to glare at Dolph. "I heard that!" she yelled. Then a little quieter she gave her attention back to her best friend saying, "He's right though. I want to be around Big E all the time now. Waking up next to him this morning was indescribable. I feel calm with him, like nothing else matters. Not my mom, not the fire, not the Hounds… nothing. Because he's going to take care of me. He's going to keep me safe." AJ studied Kaitlyn's face while she spoke and saw something there.

"You feel the same way about Dolph don't you?"

Kaitlyn looked down into her empty glass. "Yeah… I do. But I'm still scared."

AJ smiled gently at her friend. "Don't be scared sis. He's not your dad. He won't hurt you."

Right then Dolph and Ettore walked up to them.

"Big E wants to go home and check in. You two coming?"

"Of course!" piped AJ. She got out of the chair and linked her small arm through Ettore's massive one earning a wink from the large boy. AJ giggled; pleased her clinginess wasn't a complete turn off to him.

Kaitlyn stood as well; looking away shyly when Dolph's eyes met hers. He groaned inwardly realizing that he was going to have to work just that much harder to earn the level of trust that seemed to have developed between Big E and AJ overnight. Remembering AJ's incident with the Hounds, Dolph just hoped he wouldn't have to earn Kaitlyn's trust the same way Big E had earned AJ's.

When they arrived at Ettore's house, the three teens waited inside Dolph's vehicle for Big E to go check in and come back out. It was a quick few minutes when Ettore finally came out and he looked frantic. As he was walking back to the car his next door neighbor, Mrs. Benita walked outside and called to him.

"Ettore! Sweetie, wait a minute," called the elderly widow. When she was close enough to him to talk without yelling she reached out and took his hand in hers. "I know it's a mess in there and you're wondering what happened to your parents. Your mother's in the hospital ICU and your father's in jail for putting her there. I'm sorry sweetheart. I didn't know how to get a hold of you last night."

Tears filled his eyes and Ettore fought to keep them back. He nodded a "Thanks" at the old woman before turning and getting back into Dolph's car. Ettore took several deep breaths trying hard to calm down. The three other teens hadn't heard what was said outside but knew something was wrong.

"What's going on Big E? Were your parents not home?" asked AJ.

Ettore made a strangled grunt of a sound. Then in a sudden rage he slammed his fist into the door on his right frustrated for the first time in a long time about his inability to speak.

Sensing that he was trying to tell them something, AJ handed him the notebook and pen. Quickly he scribbled something down and she took the notebook back to read it.

"MOM AT HOSPITAL. DAD PUT HER THERE AND HE'S IN JAIL."

Kaitlyn's hands covered her mouth in shock and surprise. "Oh my god…"

"Shit Big E, I'll take you to the hospital right now," said Dolph putting his rover in gear to back out of the driveway.

On the drive to the hospital AJ held Ettore's hand offering whatever form of comfort she could give him. It seemed to help as the teen had finally stopped trembling since he first entered the vehicle.

When they arrived at the hospital they were told where to go by reception. Once on the correct floor nobody but Ettore could go into the unit. So while he was inside to see his mother and receive information about her condition the other three sat in the waiting room. After an hour had passed they heard the doors squeak open as Ettore stepped into the waiting room with them.

Getting to her feet, AJ was the first to say something. "Is your mom going to be okay?"

Ettore's eyes were to the floor. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He really didn't know.

Dolph stood up and patted Ettore on the back. "What about your dad?"

Ettore clenched his fists but once again shrugged his shoulders indicating he didn't know.

"Look, do you want to stay with me? At least until we get things figured out with your parents?" asked Dolph.

At that Ettore looked up and gave his new friend a small smile of gratitude. When AJ took his hand, the warmth and comfort of her delicate touch served to keep him calm. At least he didn't have to go through this alone.

 


	14. Closer

The four teens sat in Dolph's living room in silence staring at some mindless reality show on television. Each was lost in his or her own thoughts while the television primarily provided background noise.

On the way back to his house Dolph had repeatedly tried to talk Big E into going to the police, to try and found out what exactly had happened last night and to make sure his father stayed in jail, but Ettore had steadfastly refused. He hadn't written on the notepad any alternative, it just seemed as though he wanted to escape the reality of his life for the moment.

Ettore had good company in AJ. She was definitely escaping from reality by staying at Dolph's house with the other three teens. Now as she curled up next to Big E on the couch, in spite of how far away his mind was, she felt safe in his presence. But she could see how miserable he was and wanted to make him feel better. Every time she felt him tense up, as if flinching from some remembered pain, AJ would rub her hand over top of his and instantly Ettore would relax. After some time both fell asleep with AJ practically burrowing into Big E's massive side.

Dolph noticed that the two were asleep and saw that Kaitlyn was twirling a finger through her hair as she stared at the tv screen. He took that time to get up from the loveseat and go into the kitchen to call his parents. Seeing the mess Big E was in with his own family made Dolph more sensitive to what was happening between his own parents. His mother picked up on the third ring and they chatted briefly. In that short conversation Dolph noticed that his mother never once mentioned his father. He wondered if they were even staying in the same hotel, let alone the same room.

Frustrated he set the phone on the table before heading back into the living room. Kaitlyn was still awake but looked as if she were ready to doze off herself. Smiling, Dolph walked over to her and held a hand down to her expectantly.

Amused Kaitlyn took his hand and let Dolph help her to her feet. "Where are we going?"

"Outside, to the deck," said Dolph leading her to the back door. Once outside the two leaned against the railing, soaking up the partial sun.

"It's nice out here," breathed Kaitlyn. She couldn't believe the huge expanse of yard and how well maintained it was. There was a large oak tree in the center of the yard, some of the leaves already turning colors.

"Thanks, it is pretty nice," agreed Dolph. "My mother insisted on us getting a house with a huge yard. I don't know why though since she never comes out here."

"When did you move here?" asked Kaitlyn, as the whisper of an idea came to her.

"Umm, about two months ago. Why?"

"Well I guess you haven't climbed that tree yet, huh?" asked Kaitlyn. There was a mischievous grin on her face that made Dolph grin right back. She gave him a quick wink and leaped over the railing of the deck, landing on her feet with a soft thud.

As she took off for the huge tree she teased Dolph, "Hey! You going to let this girl beat you to the top of the tree?"

"I'm the show-off! I wouldn't let anyone beat me at anything!" countered Dolph playfully as he chased after her.

Kaitlyn had already started her ascent by the time Dolph got to the tree. He simply climbed up the opposite side she was on, hoping to finally catch up to her. The two teens laughed and joked around with each other as they climbed, having fun and living in the moment.

Once they were about halfway to the top and therefore a dizzying distance from the ground Kaitlyn tried to get cheeky with Dolph.

"Hey Dolph? How does it feel to be the most popular guy in school but getting your butt handed to you by a social reject?" She didn't give Dolph a chance to answer however as Kaitlyn's foot slipped and she screamed, suddenly finding herself dangling over 20 feet above the ground. The branch she was hanging on was too thick for her to get a good grip to pull herself back up.

"Oh shit! I'm coming Kaitlyn! Just hold on!" Dolph weaved through the branches and climbed over to where she was just barely holding on. With one hand he held on to the trunk of the tree and with the other he reached for Kaitlyn and grabbed her arm. Dolph used all his strength to pull Kaitlyn back onto the branch and as soon as she was able, Kaitlyn threw her arms around Dolph's neck.

"Oh my god… Thank you! I thought that was it for me!" said Kaitlyn with a shaky laugh.

"I told you earlier that you have me now," said Dolph. He was smiling but his eyes held a more serious look.

Kaitlyn immediately felt uncomfortable and tried to look away. This time Dolph grasped her chin gently and turned her face back towards him.

"No. Don't do that. Don't hide from me Kaitlyn." He knew that he was being intense and probably freaking her out, but Dolph didn't care anymore. He had to let her know.

"Dolph… please…" Kaitlyn was pleading with him. She was afraid.

"No, listen," interrupted Dolph. His hands were cradling Kaitlyn's face now and he could see the fear in her eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you. I would _never_ hurt you. I'm not _them_ or _they_ or whoever." Dolph leaned into her, closer and closer, using his thumbs to brush away the silent tears that had fallen down Kaitlyn's cheeks.

His lips were only inches from hers now. He was close enough to feel her breath intermingling with his. She was sobbing now, overwhelmed with some new and frightening emotion. Her sobs were quiet and intense but her eyes didn't leave his. They couldn't.

"Please…. Dolph… I…" Kaitlyn didn't know what else to say. How could she continue to protest when she wanted him too? More tears spilled from her eyes and her mouth parted at the hungry look Dolph was giving her. She was flush and her chest was heaving as her two toned hair lifted in the breeze.

He thought she had never looked more beautiful.

Before his lips touched hers he whispered, "I won't hurt you." And suddenly they were kissing, frantically at first. Dolph swallowed her sobs, kissing her with every fiber of his being, his passion for her unleashed like a tidal wave that he wanted to wash over them both.

Dolph was in heaven, her kiss like everything he had ever wanted and nothing he'd ever experienced before. Her lips were sweet but the salt from her tears made him crave her even more than he'd previously thought possible. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest as his lips moved softly against hers. He never wanted to let her go.

Kaitlyn whimpered helplessly in his grasp as Dolph deepened the kiss. When she felt his tongue touch hers a fire was lit in the pit of her stomach and she moaned despite herself. One of Dolph's hands wound its way through her hair, pulling her even closer to him while his other held her waist.

Her kiss was addictive, he never wanted to stop but eventually Dolph pulled back, resting his forehead against hers, his hands once again cradling her face.

"Kaitlyn," he said quietly. "I want you to trust me. When I tell you I won't hurt you, I mean it. And I don't say things I don't mean."

Kaitlyn stared into Dolph's eyes, getting lost in how blue they were. "I trust you," she said finally.

The smile that lit up Dolph's face made Kaitlyn's turn red with embarrassment and she turned away. This time Dolph allowed her to but took one of her hands in his as they sat and looked out over the horizon. For the first time since he moved to this town he felt some sort of peace. Kaitlyn needed him and he needed her.

 


	15. Safe With You

Almost as soon as Dolph and Kaitlyn left the room, Ettore woke up. AJ's tiny body warmed his side as she slept but the rest of him felt cold. Ettore was feeling guilty and depressed, still reeling from all his family's current tragedies. He looked down at AJ sleeping so peacefully against him and shook his head at the negative thoughts taking root but they just kept coming.

_"_ _How can she feel safe with me? I wasn't able to protect my mother and I won't be able to protect her either. Who am I kidding?! I was_ never _able to save my mother from him. He kept beating her and beating her and I never did enough… AJ will only end up worse off with me…"_

Feeling useless and worthless, Ettore shifted, attempting to move away from AJ as his guilt began to consume him.

Instantly AJ's eyes popped open, feeling the loss of her warm muscular pillow. "Wha..? Big E? Where are you going?"

He made a gesture that could have meant anywhere, but what got AJ's attention was the look on his face.

Concerned AJ sat up and reached for Big E. He shied away from her touch and stood up quickly, his body obviously tense.

AJ was too surprised to feel hurt at his rejection. "What's wrong Big E? Ettore?! Tell me…"

Ettore picked up the notepad and pen from the coffee table and began writing. Once he was finished he turned it over so AJ could read his words.

"I MESSED UP. MOM GOT HURT. YOU WILL TOO."

"No," said AJ quickly. " _No_! You won't let anything happen to me. You can't. You saved me. You didn't have to, but you did! Now you're responsible for me. You're responsible for the life you saved."

Ettore frowned and screwed his eyes shut as if AJ's words pained him. Her complete confidence and trust in him was overwhelming. He didn't deserve such blind faith from AJ, not when he failed his mother gravely. His large body trembled and he began scribbling on the notepad once more.

"CAN'T BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU. BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO PEOPLE I CARE ABOUT."

At this AJ gave a small smile. "Big E, bad things have been happening to me all my life. Besides Kaitlyn you're the only other person who's ever tried to step in. You saved me Big E. Dean was going to do something unspeakable to me. I just know it!"

AJ rose from the couch and stood in front of Ettore, staring into his eyes so dark brown they were almost black. He regarded her solemnly. "But you stopped him," she continued. "You hurt him to keep him from getting me. You hurt him for me. I feel safe with you. I _know_ I'm safe with you. And I've never felt that way with anyone. Ever."

Big E looked as if he wanted to argue with her but instead threw the notepad and pen back on the table. He shook his head violently at AJ, her confident words falling on deaf ears.

AJ cocked her head to the side as she looked at him. It truly felt as if he were slipping away from her. Split second decision made, AJ threw herself at Ettore, trusting that he'd catch her. He did indeed catch her, his eyes widening with surprise. Her legs automatically wrapped around his waist and she clutched his shoulders for added support.

AJ leaned in close to his face, rubbing the tip of her nose against his before leaning back to look at him.

"I'm safe with you," she whispered, and she touched her lips to his.

This kiss was not sweet like the one she'd laid on his cheek when they awoke in the morning. This kiss was hard and demanding. AJ refused to let Big E slip away from her and it showed in her aggressive lip lock.

At first Ettore was too shocked to respond but before he knew it, he was kissing her back and with fervor. He held AJ's body tightly to his own, low growls rumbling in his chest as he got lost in the feel of her, the smell of her, the taste of her. When he felt her sliding down some, without conscious thought, Ettore shifted so that his large hands were cupping her buttocks.

Feeling Big E's hands on her bottom sent a thrill through AJ from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. As they continued to kiss AJ tentatively snaked her tongue inside his mouth, unsure of what she was doing but willing to try it all the same. Ettore returned the favor and before they both realized it, their tongues were dueling.

AJ was hardly aware of the fact that they were moving; Big E was carrying her effortlessly to the loveseat adjacent to the couch, laying her on it before climbing on top of her, their lips never leaving the other for longer than it took to inhale. Instinctually it seemed, AJ's legs fell open to make room for Ettore and she wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him even closer.

Ettore was completely and utterly beside himself. What was this girl doing to him? All he existed for right now was her touch… her kiss… her heat. When his near painful erection pressed against the crotch of her jeans he almost lost it then. One of his hands found its way to her right breast, cupping and kneading the supple flesh. He grabbed her right thigh, hitching her leg over his hip as he began to move rhythmically against her, his body moving up and down hers again repeatedly, groaning when her hands moved to his chest, her palms lightly grazing his nipples through his shirt.

AJ stared up into his face, lips parted, cheeks flushed. She was no longer thinking about losing Big E, now she wasn't thinking at all. Her body simply yearned for his touch. There was a painfully delicious ache growing between her legs and she just knew that somehow Ettore would be able to relieve it. Her hands moved of their own accord to feel between his thighs, her small hands timidly running over the front of his pants, timidly brushing over his hard length.

Ettore's eyes slammed shut as he felt AJ's hands on his hard member. He let out a strangled gasp at the sensation and the sound was enough to force him out of her spell. He grasped her hands and pulled them away from him as he sat up. Looking down at her made his chest ache; she was so beautiful at the moment, how could it not? AJ's long brown hair fanned around her head and her bright brown eyes were staring up into his. Her gaze was questioning but she didn't look upset.

With a small smile Big E leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to AJ forehead. Then he took his hand and placed it over her heart before taking AJ's hand and placing it over his own.

AJ sat up, cocking her head to the side once more but this time with a small smile of her own.

"See… I told you I was safe with you. We're totally not ready for sex yet. You just kept me safe from yourself."

Big E's shoulders moved up and down with a silent chuckle. For once he didn't disagree with her.

Right then Kaitlyn and Dolph walked into the room. There were bits of leaves in both their hair and Kaitlyn looked a bit flushed. That wasn't all that AJ noticed though. The two were holding hands and the sight made her grin.

"I see you finally saw the light, huh Kaitlyn?" asked AJ, nodding pointedly at their joined hands.

Kaitlyn looked down and her cheeks went even redder. Dolph and Big E looked at each other confused but honestly too happy to care.

"So, who's hungry?" asked Dolph to no one in particular. "'Cause I am and I think I want to order a pizza."

"Pizza sounds good to me!" piped AJ excitedly. The other three teens chuckled at her eagerness.

"I'm with AJ on this one, so seconded!" laughed Kaitlyn.

Ettore held up three fingers and mouthed, "Thirded" to Dolph.

Dolph nodded and grinned back at them. "Okay, pizza it is. I think four large pizzas oughta do it. Let me go order them. I'll be right back." He was loath to let Kaitlyn go for even a minute now that she knew how he felt and reciprocated but he did so anyway, bringing her hand up to his lips for a quick kiss before letting her go and heading into the kitchen.

Kaitlyn blushed but when Dolph left the room she gave AJ a mock glare. "What?!"

"I didn't say anything!" AJ said with a chuckle. She looked at Big E, a secretive knowing smile on her face and he returned the grin. For the moment, all was right between the teens.

 


	16. Burn Baby Burn

Dean Ambrose stood with his friends, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins inside the unfamiliar basement. They each had a gas canister and were systemically pouring the contents all over every available surface as well as the carpeted floor. The fumes from the gasoline were strong and they had to fight to keep from coughing lest they ruin the surprise for the folks sleeping upstairs.

"That'll do boys," whispered Dean with a smirk. "I think this will get her attention."

"Of course it will!" exclaimed Seth, not nearly quiet enough. Roman punched him hard in the arm and Seth shot him a glare. "What?!"

"Be quiet jackass," warned Roman. "Or are you trying to wake them up and get us busted?"

"Boys, boys," interrupted Dean. He put a hand on Roman and Seth's shoulders trying to calm them down. "We've done what needed to be done. Not let's get out of here. These people will burn forever on the Other Side. And I'll be one step closer to making AJ mine."

Roman chuckled darkly but Seth just rolled his eyes. The two followed Dean out of the narrow basement window. They watched as he lit several matches and tossed them in the window behind them. Instantly it seemed the entire basement was engulfed in flames. The three teens ran across the yard and jumped the fence surrounding it. Roman and Seth followed Dean to the woods at the end of the neighborhood and they decided to wait there, out of sight for the fireworks that were sure to follow.

The blaring of his cell phone woke Dolph out of a sound sleep. He fumbled for it in the darkness of his parents' bedroom before he finally found it and pressed the button to answer.

"Hello?" answered Dolph sleepily.

"Dude! Bro? You awake?" came the reply.

"What the? Victor? Do you know it's…" and Dolph had to glance at the clock before continuing, "after 3a.m.?"

"Yeah man, sorry, but it's kind of an emergency. That girl from your party? Kaitlyn? Her house is on fire man! Everybody's looking for her. Her dad's out there saying he hadn't seen her in a couple days, so I thought she might still be with you."

At that Dolph sat straight up in bed, the sheets pooling at his waist. "Shit man! I've got to tell her!"

"Yeah do that bro. I'll talk to you later."

"Thanks man. Bye!"

Dolph threw himself out of bed and rushed down the hall to his bedroom where Kaitlyn was sound asleep. He opened the door wide and the light from the hallway spilled across the bed. He stared at her a moment, unable or perhaps unwilling to rouse her for the terrible news he had to give her. In the end he did just that. He touched her shoulder and shook her gently trying to wake her up.

"Kaitlyn? Babe? You have to get up."

Kaitlyn moaned and turned on her side to face Dolph. When she saw him she couldn't help but smile at him sleepily. But when she saw the grave look on his face her smile deflated.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's your house babe. It's on fire. Victor called and told me. He lives a street over from you."

Kaitlyn was stunned and didn't move or say anything for a moment. Slowly she sat up and put her head in her hands.

"I guess I should go. I'm going to wake up AJ. I want her there with me," said Kaitlyn, her voice muffled by her hands. When she looked up and saw the odd look on Dolph's face she put a hand on one of his adding, "I know I have you now and want you with me too."

Dolph gave her a small smile before standing up. "I'll go get dressed while you wake up AJ."

Kaitlyn nodded and once Dolph left the room she got pulled on a pair of grey jeans, a band tee, a dark green hoodie and her favorite pair of combat boots. She went into the guest room that Big E and AJ were sharing and couldn't stop the smile that crossed her face at the sight of them, cuddled up together under the covers. AJ was lying on Big E's arm, her entire body turned into his. Kaitlyn turned on the bedside lamp and that alone was enough to wake up the two teens.

"Wha…? Kaitlyn? What's wrong? Why are you dressed?" questioned AJ. Her voice was still thick with sleep and she sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Apparently my house is on fire. I have to go," said the girl sadly.

AJ nearly fell out of bed trying to grab her friend to hug her. "Oh no! I'm so sorry. Let us get dressed and we'll come with you."

Kaitlyn's eyes widened. "Uh, Big E, you don't have to go if you don't want to."

Big E frowned and made a face that essentially said, 'of course I'm coming!'. AJ got up and pulled on her jeans and put on her pink chucks before shrugging into her black jacket. She had slept in her t-shirt, bra and panties with Big E, completely at ease with him. Big E rolled out of bed and put on his shirt and pants before stepping into his shoes. It took a little more time since he was only clad in his boxers while they slept. The three met Dolph downstairs and they all silently got into his range rover, heading towards the disaster.

As they neared Kaitlyn's home, the night sky was completely illuminated by the orange red of the fire that seemed to be blazing out of control, red and blue lights from the emergency vehicles and a couple of camera crews filming for the early morning news.

Kaitlyn was sitting in the backseat with AJ, gripping her best friend's hand tightly the closer they got to the house. She didn't know what she was going to find and that was more nerve wracking than the fact that her childhood home was burning to the ground. There hadn't been any happy memories in that home for a long time, ever since her father had started sneaking into her bedroom at night and her mother stayed willfully ignorant of that fact.

In the front seats, every so often Dolph would glance into the rearview mirror to look at the girls in the back seat. For the first time since they'd joined him at his home he could see just how tightly bonded AJ and Kaitlyn were. Turning his attention to his mute friend, Dolph saw that Big E wore a solemn expression on his face. Shaking his head he brought his attention to the parallel parking he needed to do about three houses down from Kaitlyn's.

The four teens got out of the rover and walked over to the scene where the house had become a raging inferno. Thick black smoke was rolling into the air which made it somewhat difficult to breathe.

AJ still gripped Kaitlyn's hand and led her close to the house. They stood there a moment just staring into the flames, oblivious to everyone around them. Hand in hand they stood, watching as her home burned. Suddenly AJ's grip tightened.

"Oh my god… Do you see them?" she exclaimed.

Kaitlyn nodded and returned the squeeze. "I see them. They're all over."

The girls watched as dozens upon dozens of the reptilian shadow creatures danced in and around the flames. The creatures were writhing excitedly, weaving in and out of the fire as if truly enjoying it.

"What does it mean? Why are they here?!" cried AJ, well and truly alarmed.

"I don't know. God… I wish I did!" Kaitlyn shook her head, disturbed at how the creatures seemed to follow tragedy and misery. Hell they seemed to enjoy it, thriving on chaos and suffering.

Dolph and Ettore were standing silently behind the girls, not really able to hear their conversation due to how loud it was around the house with firefighters yelling and police officers shouting commands at each other as well as civilians. But Big E heard what Dolph said next loud and clear.

"What the fuck is that?! Do you see that? Those things in the fire! Big E!" Dolph shoved Big E unable to control himself. Big E simply nodded at Dolph. They looked like the same creatures he'd seen swimming around Dean Ambrose's unconscious body when he saved AJ. Why was he seeing them again? And especially now?

Kaitlyn and AJ both whirled around at Dolph's yelling, staring at him wide eyed, startled.

"You… you see them too?" murmured Kaitlyn. She didn't know whether to feel relieved or worried that Dolph was now aware of the strange and foreboding shadow creatures.

"Ummm, Kaitlyn? Big E sees them too," added AJ. Then looking somewhat sheepish she continued. "I noticed him looking at them when he saved me from Dean."

Kaitlyn shot AJ a narrowed eye glare. "And you just now thought to tell me?"

"Hold on, hold on," interrupted Dolph. "Are you guys telling me you've been seeing those things for a while? Why didn't you say anything?"

It was Kaitlyn's turn to look sheepish. But she wasn't given a chance to respond as her father called her name before running over and embracing her. He clutched her to his chest tightly, rubbing her two-toned hair and murmuring to her over and over how everything was going to be alright. The girl was stiff in his embrace, unsure of how to respond.

"Oh Kaitlyn… your mother… I'm sorry! I couldn't get her out! The fire spread so fast! I'm sorry Kaitlyn, I'm so sorry!" exclaimed her father as he held her. He began sobbing now, tears falling from his eyes onto his daughter's hair.

Tears sprang to Kaitlyn's eyes and suddenly she was sobbing too. She didn't know why exactly. For a long time now it seemed as if she were a nuisance to her mother, annoying competition for her father's affection but still, the woman who burned to death in the flames was still her mother.

AJ had taken a step back so she could lean against Big E. He massaged her shoulders absently while they watched Kaitlyn and her father. Dolph was conflicted about the sight in front of him. Even though she never said, he was sure that Kaitlyn's father was abusive. But at the moment it looked as though they needed each other's support so he hung back with AJ and Big E.

Down the street the Hounds approached the scene, knowing that if Kaitlyn was there, AJ had to be with her. Who they saw with the girls, they were not prepared for and they stopped in their tracks, several feet behind them.

"That's him!" growled Roman pointing a finger angrily at Ettore's back.

Seth smirked. "That's the guy who beat your asses huh? Oh and he's with your girl Dean!"

Dean rolled his head about his shoulders, popping his neck. "Not for long. Come on, let's go. It's time we paid Mrs. Lee a visit." Dean's tone was ominous and dark as he turned on his heel to head towards AJ's house. Roman followed silently and Seth joined them laughing to himself.

Kaitlyn's father finally released her when he heard one of the emergency personnel calling his name.

"Jim! Jim I'm sorry hon," said the woman as she approached. "But I wanted to let you know that the Red Cross is going to put you and your daughter up in a hotel for while until you get things figured out."

Jim nodded, a little too quickly. "Thanks Kathy. We… we appreciate it."

Dolph and AJ looked at each other in alarm. For some reason they didn't think that the tragedy of his wife dying was enough for Kaitlyn's dad to keep his hands(and other body parts) to himself. Kaitlyn however didn't seem to register this as a problem. She shot a weary and sad smile to her friends as her dad led her away. As they were walking away Jim called out to AJ,

"You should go home AJ. Your mother misses you."

AJ harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest leaning backwards into Big E's chest. "That woman never misses me when I'm gone. She'll just beat me for embarrassing her when I _do_ come home."

Dolph played with his car keys, frowning hard. He watched as Kaitlyn and her dad got into an unmarked police car, presumably to take them to the hotel to get some rest.

"I don't like this, I don't like it at all," muttered Dolph. "What if he tries to hurt her again? We can't just go back to my house like she's not in danger!"

Big E put a comforting hand on Dolph's shoulder indicating his agreement.

"Well I think I know the hotel they're gonna be staying at. Let's see if we can beat them there! Then we can wait for Kaitlyn to sneak out and take her back to your house!" exclaimed AJ. She clapped her hands together, excited and proud of her idea.

Dolph grinned at her. "Good plan. Let's go."

Just as they were about to get back into his range rover, one of Kaitlyn's neighbors came running over.

"AJ! AJ!" cried Carol, divorcee and nosey mother of two. "I just heard! There's a fire at your house right now!"

AJ paled and licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry. "Are you sure? Are you sure it's _my_ house?"

"Yes honey I'm sure, "said Carol, reaching out to pat AJ's hand.

AJ seemed to be in shock and Ettore pulled her into the car whilst signaling for Dolph to head to the next neighborhood. They could already see the flames from where they were. Already there were emergency personnel on the scene, firefighters battling the blaze but it seemed to be hopeless. The fire was out of control and the entire home was engulfed in bright orange-red flames.

As soon as the vehicle stopped, AJ hopped out of the car, not heeding Dolph's words to 'Wait!' for him and Big E to get out of the car. AJ scanned the crowd that had gathered around her burning home, looking for her mother. One of the policemen saw her there and made a beeline for her.

"AJ? Honey I'm sorry about your mother," said Officer Ferguson. "The fire spread too fast and firefighters weren't able to get her out in time. I'm sorry."

AJ's eyes went wide and unseeing. She collapsed in a heap on the ground before the officer could catch her. When he pulled her up she suddenly started to fight him, her tiny fist swinging and ultimately Officer Ferguson caught one to the jaw and he promptly dropped the girl. AJ shrieked a blood curdling scream of pain before running towards the flaming house. Officer Ferguson reached out and grabbed her foot before she made it far and she tumbled to the ground. AJ shrieked once more, kicking the policeman in the face forcing him to let her go. But before she could make it further, strong dark arms wrapped around her body.

Big E had caught her and lifted her up, holding her until she stopped struggling. He shifted so that he was cradling her bridal style so that her head rested on his massive chest.

"Momma… Momma… Where did you go?" whispered AJ. Tears were cascading down her face and she stared into the flames, watching the shadow creatures writhe and dance in overwhelming numbers in the fire.

Dolph was standing next to them and looked at Big E, concerned for both him and AJ.

It was Big E's first time witnessing an AJ black out and he hoped he never had to again. The way she had looked when fighting the officer, fighting to get inside the burning house was frightening. She had become someone else. Not the sweet, charming if not a little special girl he'd come to know and perhaps love. She'd become someone else entirely. He continued to hold her while she wept, whispering odd phrases and questions to herself, mourning in her own way, her abusive mother's death.

"Come on, let's get her back to the car. I think Officer Ferguson over there may decide he needs to take her if we don't get out of here. And with all the crazy shit I've seen tonight, I don't think AJ being separated from us, from you is a good idea," said Dolph, attempting to be the voice of reason.

Big E nodded and he followed the boy back to his vehicle. He climbed into the backseat with AJ carefully, unwilling to set her down lest she black out again and hurt herself, or someone else.

Meanwhile hidden down the street, the Hounds had watched the other three teens every move since they arrived at the fire.

"Damn man, well I guess there goes your chance," said Seth with a chuckle. He elbowed Roman who simply rolled his eyes at him.

"Oh no no no,"said Dean. He pointed at the range rover and laughed somewhat maniacally. "We know where she's been staying now. With that Dolph kid from our class. Kaitlyn too. We'll be able to kill two birds with one motherfuckin' stone soon guys."

Roman glanced down at the reptilian shadow creatures swirling around him and his friends. "We sure brought a bunch of these fuckers out tonight, didn't we?"

"Chaos baby!" laughed Seth following Roman's gaze. "We fucked shit up tonight, of course there's a lot of them!" then to Dean he said, "Dolph lives in the rich area of town. That means alarms and shit. How are we going to get to 'em?"

Dean smiled and tented his fingers. "Patience. And if we're lucky, we can get that bitch Kaitlyn and my Doll to come to us."

 


	17. Darkness Everywhere

Jim lay wide awake in the identical full size bed across from his sleeping daughter. Kaitlyn hadn't said much when she came to the hotel with him, the shock of her mother's death still so very fresh. She had barely acknowledged him at all, which was a little disconcerting to Jim but in a way understandable. After all, he'd been a little more aggressive than usual the last time he'd seen his daughter, taking things a little too far in the car after picking her up from the hospital. But he'd lost it, seeing how Kaitlyn had looked at the blonde punk when he'd forced her to leave! Kaitlyn was his, _his!_ Jim was going to be the _only_ man in her life.

He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, attempting to calm himself down. Jim needed to focus on being a widow and a good father to his beautiful daughter.

_"_ _Hmmm… A widow. I'm a widow now…"_ The thought almost made him chuckle aloud. Jim didn't know who set the fire to his home and at the moment he wasn't sure he cared. The heat, the smoke… the blaring of the fire alarms throughout the house woke him up from a dead sleep. His poor drunken wife wasn't so fortunate. He had spied her unconscious body on the way out of the house, passed out in her favorite chair, a near empty wine bottle still grasped in her hand. It didn't even occur to him to try and save her. He merely saved himself.

_"_ _I should thank whoever set the fire really. They saved me from having to stay married to that frigid stuck up bitch. Now it's just me and Kaitlyn. Just as it should be…"_ Jim smiled at the thought as he found himself growing hard realizing there was nobody stopping him from being with his daughter. He could love her however and as often as he wished. Jim gasped softly in the darkened room as his hand reached into his boxers and closed around his pulsing member. He stared in the direction of his sleeping daughter and began to jack himself off slowly, debating whether or not to join her in bed…

Dolph drove in circles for a time, hoping that AJ would snap out of it and tell him where to go to find Kaitlyn. There were only a few hotels in town and one just outside of town but he didn't want to waste time. Kaitlyn was in danger and he had to rescue her. Dolph remembered the haunted look on her face the night he appeared in her bedroom. How she had collapsed to the floor in tears claiming she wasn't clean…

Ettore sat in the backseat with AJ in his lap. She was curled up in tight ball, shivering a little, still mumbling odd little incoherent phrases. Sure her mother had been abusive, but that was the only family AJ had ever known. Her mind was a jumbled mess and only Big E's presence had kept her from spiraling out of control.

At a red light Dolph looked into the rearview mirror, meeting Big E's eyes. "How is she man?"

Ettore raised his eyebrows and shrugged. Then he nodded after noticing that AJ had finally stopped mumbling to herself. Now her eyes were closed and she finally seemed to have relaxed. Dolph realized that Big E had given him the go ahead so he asked AJ,

"AJ? Do you know what hotel Kaitlyn and her father are at? You said earlier you may have an idea of which one?"

At first AJ didn't respond. But slowly the mess in her mind cleared somewhat. She remembered that her best friend needed her, that not only had Kaitlyn lost her mother, but also that her father had a sick obsession with her. It was enough to force some lucidity and AJ shifted in Ettore's lap so she could see out of the windows.

"Umm… it's probably the Town Inn close to the highway," answered AJ quietly. Then with a little more urgency she added, "Please hurry… I'm… I'm scared for her."

The hushed urgency in her sweet voice made Big E hug her tightly and prompted Dolph to put pedal to the medal.

The sensation of a hand sliding up her thigh woke Kaitlyn up. She shuddered trying to make sense of her surroundings. Suddenly it all came back to her, the fire, her mother's death, her father now behind her… trying to finish what he started in the car last week. She could feel his breath near her ear, hot and moist as his hands groped her breasts through her t-shirt and bra.

"I know you're sad Kaitlyn," whispered Jim almost absently. "I'll miss her too baby, but now we can be together…" He continued his assault, his hands fumbling with the button to her pants, annoyed that he allowed her to sleep fully clothed.

Finally Kaitlyn found her voice, "No. No! Dad stop! I don't want to do this!" She shoved back against him and when he grabbed her, Kaitlyn threw an elbow back, catching her father in the nose. Jim howled in pain, releasing his daughter to hold his injured nose. Kaitlyn fell out of bed to escape, snatching up her combat boots before flinging open the door to their room and running out into the hallway. She raced to the elevator at the end of the hall and pressed the button to go down while simultaneously shoving her feet into her boots.

"KAITLYN!"

The girl gasped hearing her father screaming for her down the hall. She could see him standing outside their room, chest heaving, blood dripping from his nose. He saw her standing by the elevator and stormed quickly towards her. Kaitlyn shrieked in fear opting out of waiting for the elevator and running for the stairs instead. She ran down the steps two at a time, nearly tripping over her own feet. When she made it to the ground floor, she flung open the door and found herself in the lobby of the hotel.

Kaitlyn almost collapsed with relief when she saw Dolph striding into the lobby of the hotel. He caught sight of Kaitlyn and he jogged over to her, hugging her and looking her over.

"Are you okay babe? I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner…"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. But we have to hurry, he's coming!"

Dolph took Kaitlyn's hand in his and they hurriedly headed for the front door.

"KAITLYN! GET BACK HERE!"

Both teens whirled around to see Kaitlyn's father stepping out of the elevator. The man looked crazed, he looked evil and both teens saw the six shadow creatures writhing and jerking on the ceiling above his head. Dolph decided he'd seen enough and pulled Kaitlyn out the door. He opened the passenger door for her and helped her inside the rover before running around to the driver's side. He had just locked the doors when they heard a loud bang against the passenger side of the vehicle. Both Kaitlyn and AJ screamed.

Jim had kicked the passenger side door of the rover. He did it again and a third time, yelling at Kaitlyn to get out of the fucking car. Dolph cursed under his breath as he put the rover in gear and sped away from the hotel; leaving the girl's father outside in his pajamas, raving like a lunatic.

"My god…" whispered Kaitlyn. Her lower lip trembled while she fought not to cry. "I've never seen him like that before. And there were so many of the shadow things above him this time…"

AJ reached up to the front seat and hugged Kaitlyn. She continued to hold her best friend until they reached Dolph's home. Silently the four teens entered the house and headed directly upstairs. It was nearly sunrise. They all stood awkwardly at the top of the stairs for a moment until Kaitlyn said what all of them were thinking.

"Can we stay together? In one room? I'd feel safer that way."

AJ cosigned by hugging Kaitlyn tightly and giving Big E a pleading look.

Dolph and Big E nodded. It had been an incredibly rough and emotional night. Because the bed was larger, they went to the master bedroom. Once everyone was undressed they climbed into bed. AJ and Kaitlyn took the middle, clutching each other as if worried the other might disappear. Dolph was on the other side of Kaitlyn and closest to the door. Big E was on the other side of AJ. In spite of how emotionally charged and wired everyone felt, they found sleep quickly.

Across the street from Dolph's house sat an idling Dodge Ram Runner. The Hounds were inside and had followed the four teens from the hotel.

Roman sucked his teeth. "Well, now we know where the pretty boy's been keeping 'em."

"They won't be expecting us!" exclaimed Seth running a hand through his disheveled hair. "And I doubt he even set the alarm. Let's go!"

"No!" shouted Dean. He narrowed his eyes at Seth. "Now's not the right time. Tomorrow night; that's when we get my Doll and send her friend to the Other Side."

 


	18. Wish I Could Have Wished You Farewell

Dean was lying on the floor of the dilapidated house he lived in while his two best friends and fellow delinquents were asleep on a chair and the couch. His eyes were closed but he was awake. This was the best way to hear him to hear the voice in his head. He didn't have to wait long this time.

_"_ _Ambrose! You've done well! Soon you will have her, AJ. Soon you will have everything as long as you finish what I've asked of you. What I've spoken to you about… It will be in their childhood play house by nightfall. When you frighten them, when you chase them, they will be driven there by familiarity as it is one of the few places they feel safe. You must make sure she enters it before the moon is at its peak. Do as I ask and you'll have your Doll…"_

The deep commanding voice faded to nothing and Dean felt a smile widen across his face. It was almost over. Before the night was through, AJ would finally be his and he knew just how to make it happen…

Sometime during the morning, the girls had shifted, AJ was on her side turned towards Big E and Kaitlyn was on her side turned towards Dolph, but their hands were still linked inextricably in the center of the bed, afraid to lose each other even with more support. It was what Dolph had awakened to find when the annoying blare of his cell phone ring tone woke him up in the late afternoon. He quickly placed a small kiss on the top of Kaitlyn's head before climbing out of bed to answer the phone in the hallway.

"Hello?"

"Hey man, are you okay? Is everything okay?" asked Victor.

Dolph ran a hand through his hair hastily, debating on what he could tell his friend. "No dude, everything is far from okay," he said finally. "Kaitlyn's mother died in the fire last night. When she left with her dad he tried to put his hands on her so she's back here with me. And Kaitlyn's best friend AJ? Her house caught on fire too and her mother died as well."

Victor whistled low through his teeth. "Shit Dolph. That's fucking terrible! But some of that I already knew dude."

Dolph frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well," began Victor. "I heard my mom talking to someone on the phone this morning. Apparently Kaitlyn's dad has been telling everyone that she ran off with some 'blonde punk'."

"Dammit!" cursed Dolph loudly and with feeling. "He was _hurting_ her and it wasn't the first time either. I love her! I couldn't just leave her there to be abused!"

Victor coughed into the phone. "What?! You _love_ her?! How long have you known this girl? When did this happen man?"

Dolph blushed though he was alone in the hallway. "I don't know man. It just feels right when I'm with her. She makes me want to do better, to _be_ better. Not just for her, but for me too. Whenever we're in a room together, even if we're not talking to each other, all I can focus on is her and what she's doing and how she's feeling. All I want is to make her feel safe and happy because _that_ would make _me_ happy. I've never felt like this before bro."

Victor was silent for a moment. "That's deep Dolph. But this girl is going to cause trouble for you dude."

"I don't care," said Dolph quickly. "I can handle it."

"I hope so," responded Victor. "I have a feeling that the proverbial shit is gonna hit the fan soon."

Remembering the shadow creatures he witnessed last night on top of all the other madness Dolph couldn't help but chuckle. "You have no idea man. Thanks for the heads up bro. Later."

"Later."

Dolph hit end and clutched the phone tightly in his hand as he thought about his admission to his friend. He had said he loved Kaitlyn, out loud and had absolutely meant it. Dolph wanted to tell her, but knew that now wasn't the right time. Hopefully soon though, when they had figured things out and the craziness in their lives had ceased or at the very least calmed down.

When he went back into the bedroom Dolph saw that Big E was awake and sitting up. He stood when Dolph entered and handed him the notepad.

"HUNGRY. GIRLS WILL NEED FOOD WHEN THEY WAKE."

Dolph smirked at his friend. "There's food here man."

Big E made a turning motion with his hand indicating Dolph should turn the page.

"NEED REAL FOOD. AND COMFORT FOOD FOR THE GIRLS."

Dolph stifled a laugh. "I guess fat free soy burgers and V8 juice don't really count." He saw Big E's shoulders shaking in silent laughter as he made the turning motion again.

"NO IT DOESN'T."

Dolph fought hard to not laugh out loud at Ettore's obvious foresight and disturb the still sleeping girls. "Okay man, okay. You coming with? Actually you better since you know what you like."

Big E nodded and motioned for Dolph to turn the page once more.

"NEED TO STOP AT HOUSE. NEED CLEAN CLOTHES."

Dolph smiled wryly. "I'll say, you're getting a bit ripe there buddy. I don't know how AJ stands it!"

"I can stand it just fine Dolph," mumbled AJ sleepily. She sat up and stretched. And feeling the loss of her hand Kaitlyn woke up as well, yawning as she sat up too.

"Where are you guys going?" asked Kaitlyn.

"We're just going to the store and Big E wants to stop at his house to pick up some clothes. We'll be back shortly, I promise."

The girls didn't say anything as the boys got dressed to leave. It was well after 8 at night. But after the hellacious previous night the teens had it was no wonder they slept the whole day away. Once fully dressed Dolph went to Kaitlyn and sat down next to her on the bed while Ettore joined AJ on the opposite side. Dolph smiled at Kaitlyn and pulled her to him in a tight embrace. He kissed the side of her neck directly below her ear and Kaitlyn sighed contentedly feeling comfortable and safe in spite of everything that had happened recently.

AJ climbed into Big E's lap and threw her arms around his neck. She suddenly felt desperate for him to stay with her, perhaps due to the loss of her only family just hours before. AJ planted soft kisses all over Ettore's face as tears formed under her lashes. Big E sensed her sadness and kissed AJ's cheeks, catching the tears that trickled down them before capturing her lips. It was a soft, practically chaste kiss compared to the ones from the day before but the sweetness of it was exactly what AJ wanted and needed. When it was over she let go of his neck and stared up into his eyes. Mimicking his move from a day before, she took his hand and placed it over her heart and in turn placed her hand over his heart. They sat quietly like that for a moment just feeling the strong steady heartbeat of one another and taking solace in the sensation.

The two couples were reluctant to let each other go, but it was getting late and Dolph knew that the store he wanted to go to would close in the next half hour.

He pulled away from Kaitlyn and stood. "Come on Big E. We need to make it there before they close. Kaitlyn? AJ? We'll be back soon."

Big E set AJ down on the bed and followed Dolph out of the room and down the stairs.

AJ and Kaitlyn turned to each other suddenly feeling bereft when the boys were gone.

"Want to get dressed and wait for the boys downstairs while we watch tv?" asked Kaitlyn.

"Sure," answered AJ. "If we stay up here all I'll want to do is go back to sleep."

Once dressed and in the living room the girls sat on the couch and turned on the television. The evening news was on and a kind of perverse curiosity made them tune in even though they were sure of what they were going to hear. The anchorwoman announced the top story for the night was the two house fires last night with one casualty each. As the anchorwoman continued to drone on Kaitlyn turned to AJ her mouth wide open. AJ stared at her a moment, confused until she realized that Kaitlyn hadn't known about her mother.

"Oh my god…" whispered Kaitlyn. "That happened… after you guys left me?! I'm so sorry AJ!" She pulled her friend to her for a hug.

"It's okay… I'm okay now. I mean, after all, I have Big E."

Meanwhile…

Across the street from Dolph's home was the same idling Dodge Ram Runner from that morning. Only one of the Hounds was inside it this time along with Kaitlyn's father, Jim. Last night after they had found out where Dolph lived, the Hounds had gone back to the hotel and told Jim they knew where his precious daughter was hiding. Dean had told Jim that they would take him to get her but it had to be the following night.

"Are you sure this is it?" asked Jim doubtfully.

"Yeah man," said Roman with a snort. "Just go in and get her. We saw Dolph and that big motherfucker leave already. The only other person in there is AJ."

Jim nodded grimly before getting out of the truck, heading for the front door. Roman got out as well and went around to the back of the house where Seth was already waiting to cut the power. Roman gave him the signal and Seth cut the power lines to the house, effectively leaving the inside totally dark.

AJ and Kaitlyn both squealed with surprise when the house went dark. The sound of the electronics powering down due to lack of power droned throughout the house and suddenly there was nothing but silence.

"Shit! What was that?" asked AJ. She felt for Kaitlyn's hand in the darkness, relieved when she grasped it.

"I don't know. Probably just a power surge or something. Maybe we need to find the breaker box," murmured Kaitlyn.

"How the hell would we even find it!" exclaimed AJ. "Maybe we should just wait for Big E and Dolph to come back."

"No, 'cause Kaitlyn, you're coming with me!" roared a voice from the doorway.

AJ and Kaitlyn both froze recognizing the voice instantly. AJ didn't stay stationary for long as she stood up and yanked Kaitlyn with her just as they heard a thud and a curse from the couch.

"Run!" yelled AJ, dragging Kaitlyn along behind her. Somehow the girls were able to move quickly and avoid tripping over furniture till they made it out the back door. Moonlight lit up the backyard and they were relieved to be able to see again. The relief was short lived however when they heard Seth's lisping nasally voice to the right of them,

"Evening bitches. Care to join us?"

AJ screamed and when Roman went to grab her from the left side she swung at him, her tiny fist catching him in the jaw. Kaitlyn watched as his eyes flashed dangerously before she yanked on AJ's arm dragging her across the yard. The Hounds were right behind them, Seth whooping and laughing, the chase exciting him in a very primal way while Roman merely didn't want to lose them and disappoint Dean.

Kaitlyn jumped to the top of the fence surrounding the yard, she reached her hand down for AJ and used all her strength to pull her friend up with her. The both jumped down to the street below and took off for the woods they always felt safe in.

Roman and Seth cleared the fence with ease and when they landed they saw the direction the girls were headed.

"Damn, I guess Dean was right," said Roman with a chuckle as he continued the chase. Seth grinned widely and followed his friend.

Dolph and Big E had just left his house after picking up some clothes. They had already stopped at the store and picked up a few groceries, thankful for Dolph's credit card. Realizing the tank was on E he decided to stop at the gas station near his house to fill up. Dolph stopped at a gas pump nearest the street and began to pump gas into his rover. Big E stayed in the car, marveling at how the streets always seemed to be so empty at night when he had a horrifying case of déjà vu. He watched in complete shock and horror as AJ ran past, this time with Kaitlyn. Almost right behind them were two members of the Hounds, one of whom was whooping and whistling as if signaling to someone else.

Ettore jumped out of the vehicle and grabbed Dolph's arm, pointing frantically in the direction the girls were being chased.

"What?! What?!" But then Dolph followed Big E's gaze. "Shit! Fuck! Come on!" Dolph hung up the gas pump quickly and he and Big E both hopped back in the vehicle. Tires squealing he floored it away from the gas station, trying to catch up to the girls to get them away from the Hounds. Unfortunately Dolph wasn't quite fast enough as the four teens had just disappeared into the woods at the end of the street where he couldn't follow in his Range Rover.

Exasperated Dolph and Big E jumped out of the rover and followed the Hounds into the brush. Realizing this was where Big E had helped AJ before; Dolph let Ettore take the lead. Had he not been sick with worry over the girls he could have taken time to be amazed at how quickly and fluidly Big E moved in the woods. It was different than his moves on the football field and definitely suited for the environment.

AJ and Kaitlyn were beyond exhausted but couldn't run anymore anyway due to the heavy brush and fallen branches. They gasped for breath, their fear at an all time high as they continued their escape. AJ wanted to stop, she wanted to cry out for Big E hoping he would save her like before but she had no idea if he even knew where she was and certainly didn't want to draw the Hounds to them so she stayed quiet.

Kaitlyn squeezed AJ's hand tightly as they moved through the woods, able to see due to the moon being quite high. Their childhood clubhouse was close and the girls had silently decided that that's where they would hide until it was safe to look for Dolph and Big E. Hearing Seth whoop once more spurned the girls on faster but still quietly. After what seemed like forever, they finally made it to their childhood safe haven.

The two girls crept into the club house quietly, collapsing on the wooden floor almost immediately.

"Did we lose them?" panted AJ. "Please say we did!"

"I think so," replied Kaitlyn. "I hope so."

The two sat in silence for a moment, just listening for sounds of movement. Suddenly they heard what sounded like footsteps outside and their hearts nearly stopped. They sat frozen in place, hardly daring to breathe until the footsteps finally passed. The girls let out the breath they were holding simultaneously with a nearly silent whoosh.

A few more minutes passed when AJ realized she heard something else and it sounded like it was in the clubhouse with them.

"Do you hear that Kaitlyn? It kind of sounds like electricity crackling or something."

Kaitlyn frowned, listening. "I do hear something. It's weird." She stood up and cautiously went to the back of the clubhouse and AJ followed. What the girls found was unexpected and completely beyond either of their comprehension.

Not necessarily on the back wall but directly in front of it was a tear. Not a tear in the wall but in reality, in the fabric of existence itself. As they stared at it, trying to make sense of it, the rip crackled blue and black glowing with electricity unlike anything they'd ever seen before. The tear was wide, big enough for a person to go through but nothing could be seen inside of it. The moonlight coming through the ceiling was sucked into the rip like a black hole, no light bounced back. The very sight of the tear filled both girls with inexplicable dread and fear and they held on tight to each other as they stared at it.

"What _is_ it?!" exclaimed AJ. Her voice had risen without her meaning it to.

"It's a vortex Doll. Or a portal, I forget which."

Both girls whirled around, eyes widening at the voice that came from behind them. Dean Ambrose walked up to them a weird and demented smile curling his lips. He had to stoop because of the low ceiling but it didn't make him any less menacing.

"I've only seen one once before but it's not something you forget," continued Dean as he moved closer. The girls shrank back but realized it put them closer to the vortex so they stayed still.

A masculine bellow was heard outside and what sounded like some scuffling. They heard another voice call out, "Kaitlyn?! AJ?! Are you in there?! We're coming!"

Kaitlyn's body nearly sagged with relief. "Dolph! Help us! We're in here!"

Dean smirked, the look on his face was of a man who was about to win everything. He took another step and another closer to the girls, until there was not more than a foot between them.

"Looks like you're running out of time. Lover boy's too late." And with those ominous words Dean shoved Kaitlyn violently towards the vortex. Kaitlyn and AJ both screamed as Kaitlyn flew backwards, toppling into the crackling tear. AJ just barely managed to grab Kaitlyn's hand, keeping her from disappearing completely. She couldn't hear her best friend anymore, couldn't see her, she could only feel the tight grip of her hand and a painfully sharp burning and pulling sensation of her limb inside the vortex.

Dean shook his head at AJ still clinging to the girl he shoved into the rip of reality. He snatched AJ's other hand and yanked, forcing her to let go of Kaitlyn's hand. The other girl vanished from sight and AJ immediately balked at Dean's touch and the impossible loss of her friend.

"No! No! No!" she shrieked. "Why?! Why did you do that! Kaitlyn! Kaitlyn!"

At that moment Seth burst into the clubhouse followed by Dolph who had his arm forced painfully behind his back and Big E. They rounded the corner, momentarily stunned by what they saw. Seth groaned his frustration and annoyance.

"Shit man! Did you already drop that bitch?! I wanted to see it!"

Dolph's eyes were wide and wild as he realized who Seth meant. He shoved Seth to the floor and Big E immediately planted a foot on Seth's head, stomping it, knocking him out. Ettore saw Dean holding a squirming and crying AJ to his chest, grinning at him and Dolph like a madman and it made his blood boil. This time he was going to kill Dean Ambrose.

"You're too late pretty boy!" spat Dean. "Kaitlyn's gone and you better back up 'cause AJ's mine!"

Dolph and Big E glanced at each other before turning their attention back to Dean and his hostage. They were trying to formulate a plan when something happened. Dean's head went back suddenly and his eyes rolled back as well. He had a look on his face as if he were hearing something nobody else could hear and it seemed that he didn't appreciate it. His lips moved quickly and silently while AJ continued to fight in his grip.

Finally, out loud he yelled, "No! No! You promised me! You promised me my Doll!"

A voice that was not Dean's dragged through his throat, startling Dolph and Big E to where they almost took a step back. "I lied." With an odd mechanical like movement Dean swung AJ directly into the vortex behind him before collapsing. AJ's screams cut off as if she were in a vacuum and she disappeared. A strange laugh that was not his burbled up Dean's throat before he lost consciousness.

Big E lunged for AJ at the same time Dolph yelled out "No!" Once she disappeared from view the portal glowed a bright sickly red before it imploded, closing in on itself. There was a crackling sound like glass breaking and then a physical explosion ripped through clubhouse and surrounding woods. Dolph, Ettore, Dean, Seth and Roman's (who had been knocked out previously by Ettore) bodies went flying through the air the force of it was so strong. Nearby wildlife scattered and the reptilian shadow creatures attached to and following the Hounds danced and writhed with glee around the bodies on the ground. Then all was still.


	19. Dead Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theme song for this chapter (and the rest here on out) is 'Dead Space' by Sick Puppies

Kaitlyn awoke to a sharp pain shooting through her body so intense it made her gasp. Her eyes opened and she sat up, rubbing her arms as the pain subsided to something more bearable, a pins and needles sensation. When her eyes finally adjusted right away she noticed something was wrong about where she was.

The first thing she noticed was that the sun shining brightly overhead was red. And because it was red it cast a sickly orange-red glow on everything. The second thing that she noticed was that she was sitting on sand, but it was almost as black as the asphalt she was used to. And the last thing she noticed was AJ was lying on her side a few feet away from her. Quickly she crawled on her hands and knees over to her best friend, disturbed by how moist and spongy the sand felt beneath her hands as she went.

Kaitlyn shook AJ's shoulders, hoping like hell her best friend was okay. "AJ… AJ! C'mon wake up!"

AJ's eyes popped open and she immediately shrieked in pain. "Ahhh! It hurts! It hurts!"

Kaitlyn began rubbing AJ's arms and legs for her. "I know. I know, it'll pass AJ, just give it a minute."

Eventually the pain subsided like it had for Kaitlyn and AJ sat up on her own, rubbing her arms. "You're right Kaitlyn. I'm all pins and needles, like my whole body was asleep." AJ finally looked around and her mouth dropped open at what she saw. Kaitlyn watched AJ taking it all in, wondering how her friend was going to react.

AJ sat cross legged, still looking around, open mouthed. "I don't believe this Kaitlyn… Where are we?"

In spite of herself Kaitlyn gave a dry laugh. "Where _are_ we? I wish I knew AJ. But wherever we are is freaky as hell."

AJ giggled, realizing what a ridiculous question she had just asked. Abruptly her giggling stopped as she looked skyward. "Do you think we fell from the sky?"

"Why do you say that?" asked Kaitlyn, looking up as well.

"I'm just wondering if that's why we hurt all over and why we passed out," AJ pondered out loud. Shakily the girl got to her feet and helped Kaitlyn to do the same.

"Where should we go?" asked Kaitlyn looking around. Right then both girls heard a screeching sound, like nails on a chalkboard only amplified. It seemed to be coming from north of their location and the sound had caused a chill to go down their spines.

"Let's go this way," said AJ pointing to the south.

"Why that way?"

"Because that way is going away from whatever made that noise. Besides, I think I can make out some buildings in the distance." AJ grabbed Kaitlyn's hand and they began walking south. They heard the screeching again but it sounded further away and the girls were relieved.

The spongy sand was a bit difficult to walk in, but they managed. They were silent for a time, taking in the various odd and downright strange differences they noticed, like the thick yellow shrubbery scattered around the desert that seemed to be waving with a breeze even though the girls felt nothing. To them the air was hot, still and heavy. They also heard a chittering sound every once and while that sounded like small mammals communicating with each other but every time they tried to spy the creatures making that sound all they saw was dust that had been kicked up in its place.

"Do you think Big E and Dolph are okay?" questioned AJ. She looked worriedly into her friend's face while she waited for an answer.

"I don't know AJ. I hope they are," replied Kaitlyn.

"They tried to save us Kaitlyn! They were there in the clubhouse and tried to rescue us!"

"I know they did what they could AJ." Kaitlyn sighed. She was worried about Dolph and Big E. How were those two going to explain their disappearance? The truth was impossible to believe and she hated the thought of Dolph lying but figured he had no other choice.

"Dean tried to keep me Kaitlyn," said AJ after a moment, looking down at her shoes. "He didn't want to push me into the vortex."

"He said that?"

"Yeah but then something weird happened. He started whispering under his breath and then he started yelling to himself before he threw me in. It was so weird."

"Weird is right," responded Kaitlyn.

The girls fell silent and continued walking. The red sun was starting to go down and it was already a few degrees cooler, though it remained hot and dry. As the sun began to set, it cast a blood red hue over everything. It was unnerving as hell and AJ didn't need to talk to Kaitlyn to find out if she was as scared as she. Kaitlyn's hand gripping hers tightly said everything she needed to know.

So lost was each girl in her own thoughts they both simultaneously tripped over something and crashed into the sand on their hands and knees.

"Ouch!" cried Kaitlyn.

"That freakin' hurt!" exclaimed AJ.

At that moment they heard a hissing like sound. Looking back they saw what they had tripped over and both girls' mouths dropped open in horror. The creature had a huge segmented body like a centipede but was long and flat and was brown in color. It was about 20 feet long but it took almost no time at all for the head to whip around and face the girls. The head looked like a giant open mouth with razor sharp teeth like a shark but had no eyes that they could see. It hissed again while rearing back and that was all it took for the girls to jump up and run. They didn't look back to see if the creature was chasing them, they just kept running.

Finally they reached what looked like the edge of a town and the girls stopped running to catch their breath.

"Oh my god… Oh my god…" panted AJ. "That was the scariest thing I've ever seen!"

Kaitlyn nodded in agreement. "Me too!"

"Hey… wait a minute… Doesn't that look like the McCarthy house at the edge of our town?" asked AJ.

Kaitlyn looked before nodding in agreement. "Yeah it does. In fact all of these buildings look like the ones from home."

As they continued walking along they discovered that it was true. This town that they were in now looked to be a mirror image of the one from back home; except all the buildings were dilapidated and run down, looking like they were abandoned which neither girl could decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Their wandering had led them to the mirror image of AJ's home. It looked charred, as though it had been set on fire years ago, but still appeared to be structurally intact.

"What do you think?" Kaitlyn looked at AJ trying to gauge her response.

"I don't know. Should we go in? It's getting dark and I'm afraid to stay out here."

The girls had their answer when they heard that same nails on a chalkboard like screech from before. They jerked open the gate and ducked quickly inside the house, thankful that the door was unlocked before closing the door quietly behind them. The two leaned against the door, waiting to see if they'd been discovered by whatever creature made that awful sound. The screech sounded down the street and they let out simultaneous sighs of relief.

"Well I guess we should stay the night here," pondered Kaitlyn aloud. A look around showed that the inside of the home was filthy. A layer of dust, dirt and grime covered every surface and scuttling sounds could be heard in the near darkness. Despite the fact that they were definitely not alone in the house, whatever they heard sounded small and easier to deal with than the large nightmare creatures outside.

"Maybe we should try to lie down until it gets light outside again," suggested AJ. "Let's go to my room. Or I guess the room that's probably like my room."

Kaitlyn chuckled and followed AJ up the rickety stairs. When they reached the room and opened the door both girls were pleasantly surprised. The room that was like AJ's was actually in good condition and clean. It was a marked difference from the rest of the house or from the rest of the town even. Almost like someone had been expecting them.

"This is really freakin' weird," AJ whispered as they looked around.

"I agree, but let's be optimistic about this. Clearly we're supposed to stay here for the night. And honestly, after what we saw outside, I'm okay with that."

"Okay, well let me close the door. If there are creatures in the house I don't want them getting in here while we sleep." Once the door was shut, she walked over to the attached bathroom. "Okay let's cross our fingers that it's not terrible in here." Opening the door she smiled. It was bearable.

"I'm going to pee with the door open if that's okay?"

"Fine by me, I don't want to be alone in this crazy place, ever!" Kaitlyn chuckled and sat on the bed. When AJ finally left the bathroom, Kaitlyn went in behind her. When she finished relieving herself and stood up, there was a slight whooshing sound and the toilet bowl was suddenly empty. Kaitlyn gasped and yanked her underwear and pants up quickly. Back in the bedroom she saw AJ on the full size bed doubled over in silent laughter.

"Why didn't you warn me!" exclaimed Kaitlyn looking back over her shoulder at the toilet nervously.

"I'm sorry! I just thought it would be funny!" Then sobering a bit AJ added, "You're not mad at me are you?"

Kaitlyn finally smiled and shook her head. "No I'm not mad. That just freaked me out."

Kaitlyn got into bed next to AJ and they cuddled each other in the dark and strangely familiar bedroom. Shockingly, they fell asleep quickly.

 


	20. We Have A Situation Here

The girls awoke within moments of each other, the bedroom illuminated in an orange-red glow.

Sunrise.

Sitting up, AJ stretched before rubbing her stomach as it rumbled uncomfortably.

"Gah, I'm hungry!" exclaimed AJ. "And thirsty."

Kaitlyn sat up as well and made a face. "Me too, but I'm scared to eat anything we may find."

AJ's eyebrows raised in concern. "What if we don't find anything at all?"

Kaitlyn didn't answer. She just stood up and went to the window before peeking out. "You know what? I think before we leave the house we should find some weapons. In case we can't run from one of those things out there."

AJ shuddered at the thought of having to fight a creature like the one they'd seen last night but knew that Kaitlyn was right. "Okay, maybe we can find something downstairs to use."

Once downstairs, they began looking around the house for weapons or items that could be used as weapons. Kaitlyn picked up an iron fireplace poker and AJ had snagged a butcher knife from the kitchen. Together they walked to the front door. Opening it, they peered outside. So far all was quiet and there were no creatures in sight. Deciding that the coast was clear they exited the house, shutting the door behind them.

They walked the street for a time, trying to decide where the best place to go was to find something to eat.

"Maybe we should try the corner store?" suggested AJ as they neared the end of the street.

Kaitlyn shrugged. "Can't hurt to try."

They walked up to the store and tried to peer inside the dirty window. It was hard to see, but the condition of the store was like everything else appeared to be in this ghost town, dark, dirty and decrepit.

AJ held the knife in her hand up high, ready to strike down at a moment's notice before opening the door. The door swung inwards with a long, loud creak and she stepped inside. The red light coming in through the grimy windows was minimal but enough to get a good look around.

"There's nothing here!" she cried out in dismay.

Kaitlyn came in behind AJ and found that her friend was right. The store's dust covered store shelves were completely empty.

"Well what do we do now?"

"I don't know AJ. Maybe try the supermarket?"

AJ's shoulder slumped. "I don't see the point; it'll probably be more of the same."

"Let's just try it anyway. I refuse to believe we showed up in this godforsaken place just to starve to death." With that said the girls went back to the road and began walking once again. After a few minutes AJ saw something strange sticking up out of the middle of the road.

"Kaitlyn? What is that?"

Kaitlyn looked to where AJ was pointing. It looked like two pool balls sitting on the road. But when AJ walked up to them and kicked them, they didn't move.

"No AJ! Don't!" But Kaitlyn's warning came much too late. The ground shifted beneath their feet and a large nightmarish creature unearthed itself before them. It had eight long spindly legs like a spider but was the size of a horse. The two ball like objects that AJ had kicked appeared to be the creature's eyes and they looked down at her from two thick stalks that protruded from its head. Where the mandibles would have been had this been a normal spider was two grayish clawed hands instead, leading to a gaping maw full of sharp jagged teeth.

AJ was gasping, bordering on hyperventilating as she took in the terrible sight in front of her. She held the butcher knife in a white-knuckled grip and backed away slowly, first one step, then another. Kaitlyn was a few feet behind AJ, holding the iron poker like a bat, ready to swing if the spider-thing started to attack. AJ was taking her fourth step away when creature was suddenly on her. AJ screamed high and terror filled as the spider collapsed on to her, its clawed hands reaching for her face.

Kaitlyn yelled out, "No!" and ran to help, swinging the poker at the hard body of the spider. No matter how hard she swung it didn't seem to faze the creature but she didn't stop. AJ continued to scream from underneath it, her mind hardly able to comprehend dying like this. Then she blacked out.

Kaitlyn no longer heard AJ screaming and instantly she feared the worst. Then she heard an electronic sounding squeal and disgust crossed her features as she realized it was the spider making that sound. The spider reared back, once again standing to its full height and she realized that it was because it was trying to get away from AJ. AJ was slashing wildly at its weirdly soft underbelly with the butcher knife, coming away with green blood and thicker things.

AJ's mouth was curved into a wicked looking sneer as she continued to hack away at the spider. She cut off one of the mandible hands and the thing squealed once more. When it swung at her with one of its front legs, she cut it off at the joint, hobbling it a bit. She reached up and stabbed where the head met the abdomen and the spider gave out one final squeal before collapsing. Oblivious to the fact that creature was dead, AJ continued to stab and slash at it like a girl possessed.

Kaitlyn came up on her friend carefully, worried she might try to slash at her in this state. "AJ? AJ! It's dead, you can stop! AJ stop!" cried Kaitlyn.

AJ paused in her movements and trembled a little. "Kaitlyn?" Her voice was high and breathy but she seemed to have snapped out of it.

Kaitlyn breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm here AJ. I'm here. It's over." She pulled her best friend to her for a hug while remaining careful of the knife still in her hands. AJ was covered in the green goo and insides that she had ripped from the creature. The blood and viscera seemed to be odorless but was sticky and nauseatingly viscous.

"Kaitlyn? I want to go home."

"Me too. But for now, let's go back to that bedroom that isn't really yours. I think we've done enough exploring for one day."

The girls walked quickly and quietly back to the mirror image of AJ's home. They actually saw two more pairs of eyes on the road on their way back but walked wide around them, doing their best to avoid another confrontation. Once inside the house, Kaitlyn had AJ strip off her clothes while downstairs before ushering her friend upstairs to the bedroom and into the attached bathroom. She turned on the shower and was relieved to find that it worked.

AJ watched as her friend altered the temperature. Then upon closer inspection found that the water was less than clear. "Kaitlyn! This water is brown!"

Kaitlyn sighed. "I can see that, but it's better than nothing. Get in and scrub down. I'll be right outside."

AJ shuddered at the feel of the giant spider's thick green blood sloughing off of her body. When she felt reasonably clean she got out and dried off with musty towel hanging on the back of the door. Kaitlyn had laid some clothes she found for her in the drawer on the edge of the bed. Oddly enough it looked like a pair of jean shorts and a long sleeved crop top she had lost back home a few months ago. AJ got dressed and lay next to Kaitlyn on the bed.

"I miss Big E," murmured AJ more to herself than to Kaitlyn.

Still Kaitlyn responded. "I miss him too. And I miss Dolph."

"What do you think they're doing right now? Do you think they're trying to find a way to save us?"

Kaitlyn stared up at the cracked ceiling. "I hope so."

Meanwhile back home in the town hospital…

"Doctor?! How long will he be like this?" cried Dolph's mother. She and her husband had been alerted by the police about their son being hospitalized and had flown back from their conference immediately. The thin woman was staring down at her son as he lay pale and unmoving in the hospital bed. Dolph's father was showing uncharacteristic support while he wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulder.

"It's hard to say Mrs. Ziggler. We have no idea what caused him to slip into a coma in the first place. We're just lucky that a hiker happened through the woods and found him and the other young men when he did." The doctor gestured towards the other beds in the ICU holding Ettore Langston, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, all of them in coma like states just like Dolph.

"Still, did the hiker happen to figure out _why_ my son was in the woods in the first place?" rumbled Mr. Ziggler.

"No one knows," replied the doctor. "But I overheard the police talking when the young men were brought in and they seem to think it has something to do with the disappearance of the young ladies whose homes burned down a couple nights ago. AJ Lee and Kaitlyn."

 


	21. It's Clear, It's Here

AJ and Kaitlyn spent the rest of the night in that bedroom, trying hard to ignore the growling of their stomachs. It wasn't hard with how exhausted they were and once they fell asleep, they slept like the dead.

The next morning they awoke to the sound of raindrops drumming along the roof of the house. Kaitlyn was the first to get up. She stretched and yawned before walking towards the window to take a look out. What she saw surprised her. The rain seemed to be yellow in color and it hit every available surface with a hiss, like steam escaping from a pot. Curiosity getting the best of her, Kaitlyn opened the window a crack.

"What are you doing?" asked AJ. She was sitting up and watching her friend with a concerned look on her face.

"Something's not right about this rain," said Kaitlyn reaching a hand out of the small opening of the window. A couple drops of the yellow looking rain hit top of her hand and Kaitlyn yelped in pain, jerking her arm back inside.

"Ahh! Shit! Shit!" Kaitlyn fell to the floor clutching her hand in obvious pain.

"What?! What is it? What happened?" cried AJ. She jumped down off the bed and knelt in front of Kaitlyn, carefully taking her hand in hers. AJ's eyes widened in shock as she took in the damage. The rain had burned the top of Kaitlyn's hand like acid. It was already beginning to bleed and ooze and from the look on Kaitlyn's face, it had to be incredibly painful.

"Well I guess now we know to _never_ go outside if it's raining," mumbled Kaitlyn, her voice tight due to the throbbing of her injured hand.

"We have to find something to take care of this Kaitlyn." AJ stared worriedly at her friend's hand, chewing on her bottom lip nervously.

"I'll be fine AJ. Besides, we can't leave the house until it stops raining."

"Fine, once it stops raining we'll leave and see if we can find something to patch you up with, maybe disinfect it. Heck, if we're lucky maybe we'll find something to eat too." AJ smiled thinly at the thought of a potential meal.

Kaitlyn blew her breath out slowly and nodded. "Okay, okay, looks like we have a plan."

The blood red sun was high in the sky when it finally stopped raining. Steam was rising from the ground in thin curling tendrils and the air reeked of the rotten egg smell of sulfur. But the girls decided to stick to the plan and together they left the relative safety of the house. AJ had the butcher knife from yesterday and once again Kaitlyn carried the fire place poker.

The girls had silently agreed to head in the direction of the hospital. If the town was in fact a mirror image of where they lived back home then the hospital was only about a half hour to forty-five minute walk. They walked quickly, vigilantly hoping to make it to the hospital and back before dark.

When AJ and Kaitlyn finally made it to the hospital both girls had doubts about entering the building. It was old and decrepit looking like the rest of the town, but it also held a different kind of foreboding about it.

A shiver worked its way down Kaitlyn's spine. "I don't like this."

"We don't really have a choice. What if you get an infection and what we need to stop it is inside there? Let's just try, please?" AJ pleaded with Kaitlyn, a hopeful look on her face.

Kaitlyn smiled at her friend's concern. "Okay, but in and out AJ! I'll be damned if we have to spend the night in there 'cause we can't make it back to the house before dark."

AJ grinned and looked back up at the building trying to decide where they would go first. In a window on the third floor she saw a light and movement, like somebody was inside, looking out. AJ blinked a few times, startled before looking back up at the same window. Now she saw nothing. But something told her that that was where they needed to go.

"C'mon, let's go up to the third floor," said AJ already walking up the steps to the front door.

"What? Why the third floor?" asked Kaitlyn as she followed her.

"I've got a hunch that that's where we need to be is all."

The inside of the hospital was dark, dank and depressing. The only light they had was from the blood red sun shining in through the grimy windows. It was eerily quiet inside; the only sound was of their footsteps through the long hallways. In the stairwell they'd heard noises, sounds that an animal would make and it put the girls on high alert. When AJ opened the door to the 3rd floor hallway they heard it again, a low pitched squeaking coming towards them in the darkness.

"Get ready to swing that thing!" AJ whispered to Kaitlyn as they stepped into the hallway. Kaitlyn held the poker up like a Louisville Slugger, ready for whatever may be coming their way. The girls had made it about ten feet away from the door when they finally saw what had been making the awful squeaking sound.

It was pink and grey and completely hairless, looking something like a mole rat. Only this creature was about the size of a large dog and it lumbered towards them quickly in a rolly polly fashion. AJ shrieked and jumped out of its way, slashing at it as she went. Kaitlyn swung and hit the creature head on. The creature gave a high pitched squeak and to Kaitlyn's horror, her poker was imbedded in the creature's flesh. She ended up having to pry it out by putting a boot on its thick middle for leverage and yanking. Then realizing her boots were causing more damage than the poker, Kaitlyn stomped on the thing's head until it stopped moving. Some of its flesh stuck to the bottom of her boots like chewed gum and she and AJ gagged in disgust.

"That's fucking nasty," said AJ with a frown.

"I don't know that it's any nastier than anything else we've seen since we got here," replied Kaitlyn.

AJ shrugged. "You've got a point. Anyway, let's keep going. We've wasted enough time on that thing."

In the middle of the hallway was the entrance to what would have been the ICU. Still compelled by feeling she opened the door and walked in, Kaitlyn following behind her. There was a large window on the wall where it would have made sense to put a window. For some reason unknown to them the girls looked into the mirror when it began to change. It brightened, suddenly looking clean and inviting. The mirror became transparent and suddenly it was like looking into a window with a view of their old home.

"Can you believe this?!" Kaitlyn was stunned at what they were witnessing.

"Amazing!" AJ watched as the view became clearer and clearer till they realized they were looking into the ICU back home. AJ covered her mouth in shock at the sight of Big E and Dolph lying, unmoving in identical hospital beds. "Oh my god…"

Kaitlyn pressed a hand to the glass unable to believe it. "Dolph… what happened to you?"

"He's in a coma," answered a voice from behind them.

The girls whirled around, their weapons at the ready when their umpteenth surprise for the day greeted them. There behind them was the glowing outline of a man. His facial features were more easily distinguishable than the rest of him, his body was pretty blurry.

"Technically," said the spirit gliding closer to the girls. "He's suffering from a sickness caused by being too close to a vortex when it collapses. Don't worry, it'll pass and he and his friend will be fine."

AJ lowered the knife slightly. "Who are you?"

The girls could make out the faint sad smile on his face. "You don't recognize my voice AJ?"

AJ's eyes narrowed as recognition flickered across her face. "Da…Daddy?!"

"That's right baby."

"But Momma said you died…" AJ's voice wavered with confusion. Kaitlyn seeing how distressed her friend was put an arm around her shoulders as they stared at the spirit of her father.

"Don't I look dead to you?" he asked dryly.

AJ actually managed to blush. "What I mean is, I thought she was lying about it. I was only three when you weren't there anymore. There was never a funeral either so I always assumed you just left us."

"No baby, I didn't leave you. You're mother took you and I wasn't able to find you again before I died." Mr. Lee's spirit wavered with sadness as he looked at his baby girl.

Kaitlyn looked a bit uncomfortable but went ahead and changed the subject. "I'm sorry Mr. Lee, but can you tell us why we're here? Or where here is for that matter?"

The spirit's glowing dulled for a second, seeming to indicate unhappiness. "You're on the Other Side."

AJ cocked her head to the side. "The Other Side? The Other Side of what?"

"Of everything. But most specifically of your town. It's like your home is Heads and this place is Tails. It was created as a sort of midway point."

AJ asked, "A midway point to where?" and at the same time Kaitlyn asked, "Created by whom?"

Mr. Lee chuckled but it wasn't a happy sound. "Both good questions but neither I can provide answers for at this time."

At that moment AJ's stomach growled embarrassingly loud and she flushed.

Mr. Lee chuckled again, this time his being glowed a bit brighter. "What I _can_ do is teach you girls how to survive in this place. And I'll start by showing you how you can get something to eat."


	22. No Pain, Lots To Gain

"This is it?!" exclaimed both AJ and Kaitlyn simultaneously. They stared at the towering, black, knotted and twisted tree doubtfully.

Mr. Lee's form shimmered a bit as he laughed. "Yes I know how it looks. If we were home this tree would have been torn down long before it looked this bad. But this tree is not dead, even though it looks it." He pointed to a glowing red fruit hanging down on a branch right in front of them. It looked like an apple but the shape was off, slender and not quite as heavy. "This fruit will take care of all your dietary needs while also keeping you full and healthy. It will also heal your wounds… make you stronger and impervious to pain even."

Kaitlyn gasped and AJ's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really?! Is all of that true Daddy?"

"Of course it is baby. Kaitlyn why don't you go ahead and try it. You'll see."

Kaitlyn licked her lips nervously but reached for the fruit anyway. After plucking it from the branch, she turned it over in her hand, inspecting it. It continued to glow seemingly from its core. Kaitlyn sniffed it and was surprised to find that it actually smelled inviting and delicious. Finally she took a bite and moaned in delight at how tasty and juicy the fruit was. Kaitlyn finished it off in several large hungry bites, letting the core that was no longer glowing, fall to the ground.

AJ raised an eyebrow at her friend. "That good huh?" She grinned when Kaitlyn nodded enthusiastically while wiping the juice from her chin and then licking her fingers. AJ started to laugh when she noticed Kaitlyn's injured hand.

"Sis! Your hand!"

Kaitlyn held her hand up to her face and watched as the acid burns melted away into brand new skin right before their eyes. The blazing, burning pain was gone instantly. Mr. Lee and AJ watched as Kaitlyn tested the skin and flexed her hand completely amazed at the healing powers of the mysterious fruit.

"Wow AJ you have to try this!" exclaimed Kaitlyn. "But first I want you to hit me as hard as you can!"

"Wow, a Fight Club quote," laughed AJ with a small shake of her head. "Okay, Kaitlyn. Alright, ready or not, here I come!" Unlike Edward Norton's character in the film, AJ did not hesitate and put all the force she could muster into a right hook to Kaitlyn's jaw. It should have been enough to truly ring the taller girl's bell but all it managed to do was turn Kaitlyn's head to the side. When she looked back up at AJ, Kaitlyn was smiling, her face unmarked.

"Totally didn't hurt."

"Okay, now I really want to try a piece of that fruit!" AJ leaped up and snagged a piece of fruit for herself off a low hanging branch. That first bite was like a flavor explosion in her mouth though she couldn't have said what exactly it tasted like. AJ moaned much like Kaitlyn had as she finished off the piece of fruit.

"Now hit me!" yelled AJ while making a 'come hither' motion with her fingers. AJ's head snapped to the side as Kaitlyn belted her with a powerful open handed slap. Nothing! Not even a flicker of pain with that blow. AJ giggled an almost manic sound as she returned the favor.

The girls continued to try and one up each other with slaps, punches and kicks all while Mr. Lee watched them silently. He was shocked at how easily they took to the fruit and was even more shocked at how eager they were to test out its powers. Mr. Lee shook his head slowly, feeling a sudden and intense sorrow at the predicament his daughter and her friend found themselves in. And things were only going to get worse… much worse. Abruptly he felt a cold but electrically charged wind blow through him. He was being summoned.

"No… Not now!" cried Mr. Lee. His being flickered and the girls froze hearing his cry of distress.

"Daddy? Are you okay? What's happening?" The look on AJ's face broke his heart but he could do nothing to stop what was going on.

"I'm… I have to go… I may not be back for a while so please take care of each other! Grab as much fruit as you can and head back to the house before dark. The creatures on this end of the Other Side are much more volatile than the ones you've already encountered…" Mr. Lee looked pained as his being faded to nothing leaving no trace he'd been there at all.

"He's gone…" whispered Kaitlyn. The taller girl turned to her friend, alarmed when she saw AJ's bottom lip quivering. "It's alright AJ! He said he'll be back, just that it'll take a while."

AJ nodded and sniffled a bit. "I know. I heard."

"Okay, well give me a boost up, I'm going to grab a few of these and we can head back. It's already starting to get dark."

AJ gave Kaitlyn a leg up and watched as her friend climbed up the tree. The eerie red sun slowly sank below the horizon as she tossed down nearly a dozen of the glowing red fruit and AJ caught them all to her amazement. It left AJ wondering if perhaps the fruit she'd already eaten had increased her hand eye coordination as well.

When she thought they were well stocked, Kaitlyn hopped down and took off her shirt, using it as a sling to carry all the fruit they'd gathered. Just as they were making their way back the girls stopped dead in their tracks when they heard the ominous nails on a chalkboard screech from when they first arrived several days ago.

The girls froze for a moment looking at each other fearfully.

"Oh shit, we've got to hurry!" yelled Kaitlyn. "If we run we can make it!" With that said both girls took off at a fast sprint hoping they wouldn't encounter whatever creature was making that terrible noise.

AJ and Kaitlyn had made it to the gate of the house when they heard what sounded like incredibly large wings beating against the air high above them; then the screech again, an almost ear splitting sound.

"Ahhh! It hurts! It hurts!" screamed AJ clutching her ears tightly to block out the sound.

"Inside! Inside!" yelled Kaitlyn. She grabbed AJ's arm and yanked her to the door and shoved her inside the house mere seconds before a giant clawed foot smashed onto the gate, completely destroying it.

Safe inside the house the girls finally relaxed. They trudged up the stairs silently. Once inside the oddly familiar bedroom Kaitlyn set the wrapped up fruit down on the desk before collapsing next to AJ on the bed. The girls lay on their backs staring up at the dirty and cracked ceiling quietly for a time.

"That was close…" whispered AJ finally breaking the silence. "Thanks by the way."

Kaitlyn nodded. "No problem sis, I couldn't let you get carried off by whatever the hell that was flying above us." Then after pondering it a bit, Kaitlyn added, "Besides, I couldn't survive out here by myself."

AJ sighed deeply before turning on her side to look at Kaitlyn. "It sucks that we're here. But I'm glad that we're together. I don't know what I would do if I lost you too…"

Kaitlyn reached down and covered AJ's hand with her own. "Me either."

 


	23. Warriors

"Rise and shine sleepyheads."

AJ and Kaitlyn both opened their eyes to see Mr. Lee's nearly transparent form hovering near the bed.

"Daddy! You're back!" exclaimed AJ. She looked as if she wanted to hug him but sadly realized that it would be impossible.

"I told you I would, didn't I?" Mr. Lee smiled genuinely happy to see his girl.

AJ beamed for a moment before sobering. "Yeah you did. Where did you go?"

"And why?" piped up Kaitlyn sitting up as well.

Mr. Lee noted that Kaitlyn actually looked somewhat suspicious and with good reason he thought. But they couldn't know the truth. Not yet. Not until Kaitlyn and AJ were better prepared. There wasn't much he could do as a ghost, but he could give his daughter and her friend the tools they needed to survive because time was running out. Soon they would be faced with their reason for arriving on the Other Side, the reason their short lives had been filled with such hardship and pain… Mr. Lee stopped that train of thought before he accidently alerted the girls that something wasn't right.

"I'm a ghost," he said finally. "I don't have much control over my being and whether I stay or go."

At that bit of news AJ looked worried. "Does that mean you could fade away and be gone forever at any time?"

Her father felt bad for lying but knew for now it was the best thing to do. "Yes, I believe it could happen. That's why for as long as we have together you need to listen to me, do as I say and stay strong. Okay?"

Kaitlyn and AJ looked at each other before nodding.

"Good. Now you both should eat a piece of the fruit before we go." Then at seeing the look of protest on their faces, AJ's father added, "I know you're not hungry but eat some anyway. If you don't, you'll end up hurting later."

For the first half of the day Mr. Lee took the girls to different parts of the town and pointed out the dangerous and mysterious creatures. He told them everything he knew about them, like when the creatures were most active and how they could be avoided; and if fighting was necessary, how to kill them. There were a few situations that became more hands on rather than just strict observation.

In one instance they came in contact with two of the spider creatures similar to the one from several days ago. Instead of reacting with instant fear and panic like before, AJ and Kaitlyn were calm and did what they needed to do to bring the giant many legged creatures down. Mr. Lee had hung back and watched and was clearly impressed with how the knowledge he was imparting was being used so completely.

At a different time and place in the town, AJ and Kaitlyn were nearly swarmed by a dozen small winged creatures that looked like bats with six legs and protruding jaws. This was quite a shock for them but they managed to handle it effectively and relatively quickly to boot. Mr. Lee bit back a smile of triumph; maybe the girls would be fine after all.

The rest of the week happened in a similar manner. Mr. Lee would escort the girls around town and they would battle with the creatures or learn how to avoid them entirely, though the latter was easier said than done. However, AJ's father hadn't shown them the mysterious flying creature that's ear splitting screech struck terror into their hearts since they first arrived. AJ and Kaitlyn had asked about it the second day and Mr. Lee had outright ignored them, choosing to focus on something else instead.

On this particular evening, the girls were tired. They had spent most of the afternoon slaughtering dozens of Other Side creatures. Between the two, AJ seemed to enjoy killing the most. Kaitlyn realized it was a training of sorts and seemed to stay in that mindset, but the killing was practically fun for AJ.

"Well… I don't know about you, but this just keeps getting easier and easier," said AJ with a grin. She pulled her butcher knife out of the abdomen of the rolly polly creature at her feet with ease.

Kaitlyn returned her grin with one of her own as she yanked her fireplace poker out the flesh of a creature it was imbedded in. "It definitely seems like it."

Mr. Lee was a few feet away, just watching. He was simultaneously proud and concerned. In just a week's time Kaitlyn and AJ had become stronger, faster and more resilient. The baby fat that had once been on his daughter's frame had melted away and now she was lean and very toned. The strange fruit they'd been eating had done wonders for Kaitlyn as well. She had actually packed on muscle, her arms much larger than before and powerful, her thighs and legs were strong as well. But would all these new changes be worth the horrible trade off? Only time would tell.

"Come on girls… I have a surprise for you both."

"Is it a way for us to go home?" asked Kaitlyn with an eyebrow raised.

AJ twirled the knife with her fingers as she waited for her father to answer.

"No. Of course not. If I knew how to send you home, I would have done it days ago." Mr. Lee's form flashed a little with what the girls had come to learn was annoyance. "No, the surprise is something you two will still appreciate. Follow me."

An hour later found the three in front of the Other Side equivalent of Dolph Ziggler's house.

Kaitlyn immediately balked, refusing to take another step. "What are we doing here? Wait… he's not _here_ is he?"

"No, no your friend isn't here. But this is how you can see him. Come…" And with that he floated up the stairs and through the front door.

"It's okay sis. It'll be okay," whispered AJ. She took Kaitlyn's bicep and led her into the dilapidated house, following AJ's father. The inside looked much worse than AJ's "home" and small Other Side creatures could be heard scattering around throughout. They followed Mr. Lee up the stairs and to Dolph's room. Once inside Mr. Lee gestured to the mirror above the dusty dresser.

"Look hard… and you'll see. Just like the hospital where I first met you."

Kaitlyn looked doubtful but did as she was told. Suddenly the mirror began to glow, it was so bright that the girls were momentarily blinded, but when the light faded, the mirror had become transparent like a window.

They watched as Dolph entered his bedroom wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, his hair still damp from the shower. Kaitlyn gasped at the sight of him and clutched AJ to her for support, her knees growing weak.

"Dolph… Oh my god…"

_Dolph puttered around his room aimlessly, almost forgetting that he had to get ready for school. After a moment he came to a stop in front of the mirror on his dresser. He stared at his reflection, not liking what he saw. He'd lost weight and there was a hardness in his face now, steel in his eyes that wasn't there before._

_"_ _Fuck it…" he said shaking his head. "Who_ are _you?" Then a look of pain mixed with longing crossed his face. "Kaitlyn…_ Where _are you?" He whispered her name like he was afraid to say it out loud even though he was alone._

_His solitude was short lived though as heels could be heard clacking nearby and Dolph turned to find his mother standing in the doorway._

_"_ _Dolph! Stop wasting time and get dressed!"_

_"_ _I am!" he snapped, eyes narrowed._

_"_ _I don't need the attitude Dolph," said Mrs. Ziggler frowning at him. "It's bad enough for the past month we've been harassed by that_ girl's _father and the police! It's bad enough that your father and I had to leave our business conference early to find that you'd been harboring that trashy little girl in our absence! And even after all this time you still won't tell your father and me why you were in the woods in the first place!"_

_Dolph turned around and gave his mother a glare so severe she automatically took a step back. "I told you… I don't REMEMBER!"_

_Mrs. Ziggler crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. "You're my son and I know you're lying." Abruptly turning on her heel she walked away, her heels clacking loudly on the hardwood floor._

_Dolph gripped the dresser edges tightly, willing himself to calm down. He thought about Kaitlyn. He remembered their first kiss in the tree in his backyard; how beautiful she had looked, how sweet she had tasted…_

_"_ _Fuck Kaitlyn," he said to himself, shaking his head. "I promised to protect you and I failed. I'm so sorry babe…" A few tears escaped his eyes, staining his cheeks. Dolph swiped at them angrily. Looking back up at his reflection, he saw defeat in his eyes and it nearly made him sick. Gasping, he turned away from the mirror and took several deep breaths, trying hard to calm down._

_"_ _No… No… I'm not giving up. I'm going to find you babe. I_ will _find you."_

_Dolph felt his mouth pull into a grim and determined line. He got dressed quickly after that and grabbed his bag off the floor before striding into the hallway and out of sight._

The mirror became just a mirror after Dolph left his bedroom and only then did Kaitlyn's legs completely give out on her. AJ guided her best friend to the floor and sat next to her, hugging her. Kaitlyn wept silently as AJ rocked her and rubbed her back in slow, soothing circular motions. Mr. Lee floated in front of them silently, surprised at the emotion Kaitlyn was displaying.

He knew that Kaitlyn cared for the boy just based on the way she mentioned him over the past week but he hadn't realized the extent of her feelings. Now he knew and it was slowly occurring to him that perhaps helping her view him may not have been in her best interest. And looking at his daughter now, knowing that he still needed to take her to see her friend Ettore Langston… If AJ felt about him the way that Kaitlyn felt about Dolph… If AJ was anything like her mother… she was bound to have a much more volatile reaction when it came time to view Ettore. Mr. Lee's being flickered a bit in worry.

"I miss him so much!" cried Kaitlyn finally. "I wish I could tell him that I don't blame him. That what happened to me wasn't his fault."

"He'll be okay sis," said AJ sitting back and releasing Kaitlyn. "He will." Then a sudden thought crossed her face and AJ turned to her father. "Daddy, did I hear Dolph's mom right? Has it really been a month since we disappeared?"

Mr. Lee nodded. "It has babygirl. Time passes differently here than it does there." Noticing that the sun had gone down some time ago, Mr. Lee added, "We should stay here the night. You'll be relatively safe. It would be way too dangerous to try and make it back to AJ's home now. We'll leave in the morning and head to your friend's house AJ."

AJ practically clapped her hands with joy. "Yay! I miss Big E! I can't wait to see him!"

Mr. Lee grinned at her enthusiasm. He just hoped he wasn't making things worse by allowing her to see him… one last time…

 


	24. So Long, So Far Gone

Dolph had his hands jammed in his pockets though it did little to warm them as he walked to Ettore's home. Refusing to believe his story about his lack of involvement in Kaitlyn's disappearance his parents had taken away his car privileges stating that since he was only to go to school and football practice anyway that he could walk.

Big E lived in a small middle class neighborhood but it was still quite a distance from his own home so Dolph walked at a brisk pace due to how chilly it was. He wanted to talk to Big E at school but his friend had been absent ever since they got discharged from the hospital so Dolph was ditching school in order to speak with him.

It was a long walk but after an hour, he finally arrived at Ettore's house. He knocked on the front door and waited for an answer. A couple minutes passed when Dolph heard someone fumbling at the door, unlocking it and slowly pulling the door open. It was a woman, whom Dolph could only assume was Big E's mother. She was leaning on a cane with her left hand while she stared suspiciously at Dolph.

"Yes?"

Dolph cleared his throat before speaking. "Umm… Mrs. Langston? I'm Ettore's friend Dolph from school. Is he here?"

Her face softened at the mention of her son. "Yes he's here. I'm sorry honey but Ettore isn't feeling up to company right now."

Dolph looked down at his feet and sighed. Looking back up he said, "I understand that Mrs. Langston but it's important. I really need his help."

The woman peered at him and recognition flickered across her face. "Oh! I remember you now! You were one of the boys they found with Ettore passed out in the woods. You were in the ICU together. Dolph, with the police and those girls disappearing, Ettore just doesn't want to be involved anymore. And you may as well know now that I'm going to be pulling him out of school. He's different enough without this stigma over his head. I'm sorry he can't help you Dolph. Goodbye."

"No! Please! Mrs. Langston, wait!" But it was too late; she had already closed the door in his face, halting his protests. When the click of the lock came Dolph knew better than to try and push the issue.

Dolph sighed and went back down the porch steps. "Shit Big E; AJ and Kaitlyn need us bro. I hope for their sakes you snap out of it soon," said Dolph to himself as he walked back to school. A quick glance at his watch let him know it was only the beginning of third period. He had time.

Mrs. Langston walked carefully up the stairs, using both the railing and the cane for balance and support. Her soon to be ex-husband had caused her to slip a couple discs in her spine during her last beating and now walking was incredibly painful. When she made it to Ettore's bedroom she knocked twice before pushing open the door. Her son was sitting up against the headboard in bed just staring into space. She often found him like this since his discharge from the hospital.

"Honey?"

Ettore slowly turned his head towards her, listening.

"Dolph was just here. I told him you weren't up for company but eventually you're going to have to talk to him. He's your friend and he's worried about you."

Big E just looked at her. When she saw he wasn't going to respond with the notepad in his lap she limped back to her own bedroom. It pained Ettore greatly the condition his mother was in and the guilt was eating away at him every time he looked at her. But when he was alone, the guilt he felt about AJ being manhandled by Dean and then thrown into the vortex was making him crazy. Big E could still see the absolute terror on her face, her eyes pleading with him to save her. He could still hear her cries cutting off abruptly as she disappeared from sight.

And at night, the tiny girl that he'd grown to love haunted his dreams. They would be happy together, hugging, kissing and caressing each other but she would always leave without warning. And each time Big E woke up with tears on his face, feeling alone and depressed.

Ettore leaned his head back against the headboard and closed his eyes. He failed his mother and after promising to protect AJ, he failed her as well. Nobody was safe with him.

_AJ watched her beloved Big E through the wall mirror in his room with Kaitlyn standing at her side. She could see how miserable he was and it made her heart ache that she couldn't do anything about it from the Other Side. AJ's eyes filled with tears but she fought to keep them from spilling over. The mirror became a mirror once again and AJ stepped back from it. Kaitlyn kept a grip on her friend's arm, worried that she might black out as it was clear how distressed she was._

_Mr. Lee floated nearby, thankful that his daughter was fighting to hold it together. It showed maturity and strength, both of which she was going to need soon. Because it was time. He couldn't put it off any longer._

_"_ _Umm… girls?" When he saw AJ and Kaitlyn turn towards him with questioning looks on their faces he continued. "I think there may be someone here who can get you girls home."_

_"_ _What?" asked Kaitlyn. She was frowning hard, refusing to get excited about the wonderful prospect of returning home._

_AJ tore her gaze from the mirror to look at her father wearily. "I thought you said you couldn't send us home?"_

_Mr. Lee's being wavered a bit. "That's right, I can't. But I've just been made aware of another living presence here. If they're here on purpose, perhaps they can shed some light on how to escape."_

_AJ and Kaitlyn looked at each other. It was already dark outside which meant that the Other Side creatures were active and at their most dangerous. But they wanted, no needed to get back home to Big E and Dolph. If this stranger could help them do that, then it was worth the potential danger._

_"_ _Okay," said Kaitlyn. "Let's go."_


	25. All Hope Will Someday Die

"Aaah!" AJ screamed as she sliced through the belly of an Other Side creature, essentially gutting it. She giggled as its viscera splashed at her feet, unconcerned with the rancid smell.

Kaitlyn had just finished eviscerating a creature near her as well. She saw they now had a clear path to where Mr. Lee was trying to leading them. She waved her arm at AJ trying to get her attention. "It's clear! Come on!"

The girls ran following the glowing form of AJ's father. The moist, spongy sand, though the girls had gotten used to it, was still a pain to run in. However the fruit they'd been eating so much of the past week had increased their endurance as well and running in the sand wasn't nearly as tiring as it should have been. When Mr. Lee stopped, Kaitlyn and AJ stopped as well. They were standing in front of small house that could almost be called a shack.

"You know," began Kaitlyn twirling a finger in her hair. "I've been all around town back home and I don't recall this being there."

"Me either," replied AJ. "Daddy, is this where we need to go?"

Mr. Lee didn't turn around to face them. He was worried he might tell them to turn back, to run and hide but if he did a fate worse than death awaited him and the girls. As if sensing his hesitation the front door to the shack swung open heavily with a bang.

AJ and Kaitlyn looked at each other with eyebrows raised.

"That was weird…" said AJ.

"You just killed something back there that was all appendages. I think that classifies as weird," said Kaitlyn with a laugh.

AJ rolled her eyes before giggling herself. "You know what I mean! It was unexpected, is that better?"

"A little. But let's just go in. I'm eager to see if we can get home."

AJ nodded. "Me too. Okay, let's go." AJ held the knife in a downward position and walked up the steps into the house following her silent father, with Kaitlyn right behind her. Inside the shack was even stranger. It was completely empty. No furniture, no appliances, no nothing. Except a vortex that was in the center of the empty room.

"Oh my god…" Kaitlyn nearly dropped the fireplace poker when she saw the vortex.

"Kaitlyn! Daddy! Do you think it'll take us home?!" AJ looked hopefully at her father, as she clutched the knife with both hands.

Mr. Lee finally turned to face the girls for the first time in several minutes. "I'm… I'm not sure babygirl. But I… I think we need to try it."

AJ nodded and looked to see that Kaitlyn was nodding as well. "Okay Daddy, I trust you." Then seeing an odd look on his face, AJ added. "Daddy? Are you okay?"

Mr. Lee gave a humorless laugh at her question. "I'm a ghost AJ. I'm never okay." With that odd response, he floated into the vortex and was gone.

Kaitlyn took AJ by the hand and they walked up to the rip in Other Side reality. It was small hesitant steps but eventually they were close enough to jump inside.

"Are you ready for this AJ?"

"If it takes us to someone that can send us home, yes. If it takes us directly home, hell yes. If neither of those things happens, I don't know."

Kaitlyn gave AJ a grim smile. "We can agree on that for sure. Alright sis, on the count of three. One. Two. Three!"

On three the two girls jumped into the vortex, disappearing from the Other Side.

"Ugh…"

"Oh god… It hurts…"

That horribly familiar pain was shooting through their bodies as they lay there trying to get their bearings. After a few minutes when the pain had subsided to the more bearable pins and needles sensation, they sat up practically at the same time. As the girls took in their surroundings an extreme feeling of foreboding came over them.

"Kaitlyn?"

"Yeah AJ?"

"I don't think we're back home. The vortex took us someplace else."

The floor they were sitting on was made of dark stone and was cool to the touch. A glance around showed that the walls were made of the same dark colored stone. It looked as if they were in a foyer which was very large for an entry way.

Kaitlyn stood up and helped AJ to her feet as well. "This is going to sound crazy, but I think we're inside a castle."

AJ shrugged and got a better grip on the knife in her hand. "No crazier than anything else we've dealt with over the past few weeks. Come on, let's find my Dad. Maybe he can tell us who we're supposed to be looking for."

"Or maybe he can tell us how to get the hell out of here," muttered Kaitlyn. She pointedly ignored the glare AJ threw her way and walked out of the foyer into the main hall. AJ followed behind, shaking her head.

"This is incredible…" breathed AJ staring around the hallway. "Do you think someone lives here?"

Kaitlyn looked around at all the ornate furniture and at the tapestries with intricate unfamiliar lettering and creatures adorning the walls and impossibly high ceilings. "I don't know sis, but I do know that we should get out of this hallway." She looked up at the large stone staircase off to the side. It was in sections but both sections led upstairs. "Should we go up? Or should we look for stairs leading down?"

"I don't know why but I'm getting really anxious down here." AJ tried… and failed to suppress a shiver. "Maybe we should just go up."

"You know… We haven't even seen what was out the front door," offered Kaitlyn. Just as she was about to turn around they both heard a long, loud ear splitting howl that seemed to shake the castle they were in.

"Scratch that," said AJ shaking her head. "I don't want to know what's out there. Let's just go upstairs."

The two walked up the stairs silently, their weapons at the ready. Once they reached the top of the staircase they had to make another decision on where to go.

"Left or right?" whispered Kaitlyn.

AJ looked up and down both ends of the hallway. "Let's go right."

The girls made a right and walked carefully, quietly down the hall. There were a lot of rooms on either side of the long hallway, all of them behind large wooden closed doors. All except the last room at the end of the hall. As they approached the room with the open door they looked at each other silently, signaling that they would enter the room at the same time in case something dangerous lurked.

Crouched on either side of the door frame, AJ and Kaitlyn nodded at each other before stepping into the room. What they saw surprised them greatly.

They were standing in what looked to be a sitting room. Off to the side were a couple of bookshelves and a table with a few open leather bound books on top of it. Even more interesting was the fireplace in the far wall that held an eerie yellowish green flame. And in front of the fireplace were two larger than normal armchairs. It was hard to see from their position behind them, but there appeared to be an individual in both chairs, just sitting and staring into the flames.

Kaitlyn and AJ looked at each other questioning. What was going on here?

As if answering the silent question a deep masculine voice coming from the chair on the left said, "Welcome. We've been waiting for you."

The girls watched in astonishment as two of the largest, impossibly tall, intimidating men rose from the chairs and turned around to face them. The one that had spoken was dressed all in black leather from the heavy black boots that covered his feet, to the form fitting leather pants to the leather vest that covered his chest. His arms were striking; a full sleeve of tats adorned both arms. His hair was black and hung down to his shoulders and he had a goatee, also black. He stared down at the two girls with piercing green eyes, alight with amusement and a primal need.

The man on the right was dressed head to toe in leather as well similar to the man on the left. The main difference was the man on the right was wearing red leather gloves and a mask covered his face that was red and black with the most of the black concentrated around the eye holes of the mask. This man was noticeably taller and his arms were crossed over his massive chest, looking down on the girls as well. One of his eyes was blue while the other was so white they would have thought him blind in that eye if it weren't for the way his gaze was trained on them.

Kaitlyn and AJ took in these observations silently, but their weapons were still held up and ready in case they were attacked. Though turning and running seemed like a much better option.

The man on the left chuckled darkly. "I am so pleased with how you've turned out Kaitlyn," he said after a moment. Taking a step towards the girls, with the other man mirroring his movements, he chuckled again. "Yes… I am pleased…"

Kaitlyn's eyes narrowed and she and AJ both took a step back. "Who are you?" she asked finally. "How do you know my name?"

The man, turned suddenly serious. "I am The Undertaker." With a slight nod to the man next to him, "My brother, Kane."

AJ frowned, extremely uncomfortable with how the man in the mask was staring at her. To the man in all black she said, "You didn't answer her second question."

Undertaker looked intently into his brother's eyes for a moment. Kane then nodded and uncrossed his arms to snap his fingers. It was a muffled sound what with him wearing the gloves but it did what he intended. The snap caused a bright light to appear and with it, the glowing form of AJ's father. The girls lowered their weapons in surprise.

"Daddy?" AJ couldn't have looked more confused if she tried. "What's going on?"

Undertaker had his eyes trained on Kaitlyn once more. "To answer your second question, Lee here is how I knew both of your names. After he died, he was mine. I was going to feed on his soul. But he begged me, pleaded with me to see his "babygirl" one last time." Undertaker was now looking at both girls, a thoughtful look on his face. "We saw you two together. Inseparable. Full of life. And from that moment on, we wanted you."

Something like horror was on AJ's face. She stared at the floating form of her father feeling utterly betrayed. "You sold us out? To these… freaks?!"

"I didn't mean to, I swear!" cried Mr. Lee looking pained. "I'm so sorry babygirl. I had no clue what they wanted, that they wanted you, until it was already too late."

"That's enough!" boomed Undertaker and Mr. Lee fell silent. Undertaker gave Kane another long meaningful look and the taller man nodded. He snapped his fingers once more and AJ's father disappeared. Kane then took several heavy steps forward, putting him less than a foot away from AJ. God, he wanted her so bad. He could sense her fear, could almost taste it but what got him most was the darkness in her mind and spirit. Perfect. She… was… perfect.

Without warning, quicker than humanly possible, Kane grabbed the hand of AJ's that clutched the knife while simultaneously grabbing her around the throat. AJ squeaked in surprise, the large hand squeezing her throat instantly cutting off her oxygen.

"AJ! No! Let her go!" Kaitlyn screamed and went to swing the fireplace poker at Kane only to find that she couldn't move. Her body was locked into to place and she was helpless to stop what was happening.

Kane's shoulders were moving in silent laughter as AJ struggled against him. He eventually snatched the knife from her, flinging it across the room. AJ was relieved when he let go of her throat but it was short lived as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. AJ kicked and bucked, but his grip was so strong there was nothing she could do.

Kane gave Undertaker another look and his brother could see that he was smiling beneath the mask. Abruptly Kane turned on his heel and strode out of the room, his massive arm keeping AJ in place with minimal effort.

"Nooo! Kaitlyn! Kaitlyn!" AJ screamed, her eyes locked on Kaitlyn's frozen form as she was carried out of the room.

Kaitlyn wanted to cry, she wanted to scream. How much worse could things get for them? Suddenly she felt that strange hold on her body dissipate only to find herself being shoved hard against the stone wall behind her. Undertaker's hand gripped the fireplace poker in hers while his other hand wrapped around her throat, not squeezing but simply holding her in place. He leaned down till they were face to face, watching as angry, fearful tears slid down her cheeks. Intrigued by the emotion Kaitlyn was displaying, Undertaker slowly dragged his tongue up from Kaitlyn's jaw to underneath her left eye. The man groaned in pleasure at the taste of her salty tears and his eyes rolled back in their sockets. Kaitlyn whimpered and shuddered, terrified of what was going to happen next.

The Undertaker smiled down at her, but there was no warmth in it. Only hunger. Leaning forward once more till his lips were beside her ear he whispered in that deep baritone that Kaitlyn would come to be intimately familiar with in the future, "Let's talk."

 


	26. They're Not Gonna Let Us Out Of Here

Kaitlyn sat in the massive chair, her arms crossed over her chest, glaring fearfully at the man who called himself Undertaker standing in front of her. They'd been sitting in silence for quite some time; Kaitlyn because she was trying to hear any sign of AJ and what might be happening to her, Undertaker because he seemed to be thinking.

After the agonizing silence had dragged on for nearly twenty minutes, the large man finally spoke.

"Kaitlyn… Kane and I have been siphoning souls and negative energy from your town for nearly fifty years. That area is rife with suffering, making it incredibly appealing to us." Undertaker scratched at his goatee in thought, staring up at the high vaulted ceiling as if listening to voices only he could hear. Abruptly he turned his attention back to Kaitlyn before continuing.

"Through the eyes of my creatures of the night, what you and AJ have been calling "shadow creatures", Kane and I spied you after granting Lee's wish to see his daughter one last time in exchange for a century of servitude. You were so beautiful Kaitlyn. Only three years old, but I could see the potential in you. I could see your strength and I knew when I continued to watch you grow and change that you had what it took to rule in the darkness by my side." Undertaker was grinning down at Kaitlyn now, clearly unconcerned with the deathly glare coming from the object of his twisted affection.

"Your creatures of the night have been following us nearly our entire lives?!" Kaitlyn wanted to be surprised, but somehow she wasn't. "If that's the case, how come we only started to see them recently?"

"It's hard to say. Perhaps it is because on some level, you were aware of our presence. That something unearthly was happening all around you."

Kaitlyn thought about that a moment. She realized that it wasn't that long ago that she had felt that something was seriously wrong with their town. It was why years ago she and AJ had decided that once they finished school they had to move far away to find peace, to find happiness. It was all making sense now and she didn't like that it did so she said nothing and merely glared down at the floor in sullen silence.

The Undertaker didn't appreciate Kaitlyn's stubbornness but he was confident she would come around. Soon Kaitlyn would come to accept her fate. And if she didn't do so on her own, he would force her to.

AJ was sitting in the middle of an immense bed, her eyes darting back and forth between the door and the large frightening masked man that had brought her there sitting in a chair near the window. She was trying to gauge the likelihood of jumping off the bed and running out the door to find Kaitlyn before he caught her. The odds didn't look good so she opted to stay put for the moment. And like Kaitlyn, AJ sat in a sullen silence, somehow both afraid and annoyed at her current circumstances.

Kane on the other hand was beside himself. She was finally here! Finally on the Other Side with him and even though she was only a few feet away from him, he could still do nothing but stare at her.

After what seemed like forever to AJ she whipped around angrily towards Kane. "Is this it? You brought me in here just to gawk at me?"

Kane cocked his head to the right, his eyes not leaving hers.

AJ sighed loudly, frustrated. "Can't you talk?"

Kane cocked his head to the opposite side now. _"I can, but not in a way you're used to."_

Startled, AJ sat up straighter and looked all around the bed chamber before her eyes settled back onto Kane. She cocked her head to the side in a similar manner as she stared at him. "Did you just speak inside my head?"

_"_ _I did."_

"Is this the only way you can talk?"

_"_ _It is."_

AJ pursed her lips as she looked at him. "Why did you bring me here?" she asked though she was afraid of the answer.

Kane sighed more out of longing than frustration. _"You heard what my brother said."_

AJ shook her head. "No, I mean why did you bring me in here?"

_"_ _I wanted to give you something. A gift."_

Frowning, AJ crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly suspicious. "And what is that?"

Rising from the chair, Kane towered over AJ's stiff form on his bed. He turned so that he was facing the door before raising his arms up high over head and then bringing them back down again quickly. Instantly flames shot up from a space in front of the door. AJ gasped and scooted backwards on the bed, terrified of the blaze that seemed to come from nowhere. She heard Kane chuckling in her head and it was a decidedly evil sound.

_"_ _I control and call fire," he said. "both here and there where you are from. At your school, I kept you from burning. You would have been mine, but not living, not warm and breathing as you are now. Not how I've imagined for years."_

AJ fought and failed at her attempt to keep from shuddering. Kane glanced at her before focusing back on the flames that were under his command and AJ swore that he was smiling beneath his mask. The large man snapped his fingers much like he did in the room with Undertaker earlier and a glowing figure appeared right in the center of the fire. Screaming started then, loud and piteous.

AJ stared at the fire in shock, listening to the screams of agony coming from within it.

_"_ _This is for you AJ. She hurt you so much, enjoyed hurting you. But now I can punish her, I can cause her so much pain, for she was burned alive and she is mine."_

The pure horror of it all had kept AJ from immediately recognizing the voice of the being screaming in the flames, but then suddenly she knew. Tears flooded AJ's eyes as she watched her mother's being writhe and twist in the fire. The teen closed her eyes and clamped her hands over her ears, trying like hell to drown out the sound of Mrs. Lee's torture. But when she felt the bed dip she opened her eyes to find Kane on his knees in front of her. He reached his gloved hands out and yanked AJ to him so that she was on her knees as well.

AJ shrieked and tried to move back, tried to get away from him but it was no use. Kane held her arms tightly to her sides, his head once again cocked, as if truly confused by AJ's reaction to his "gift" for her.

_"_ _Are you not pleased?" boomed Kane's voice in her head. "You should want her to suffer as you suffered."_

Eyes closed, AJ shook her head. "No! She's still my mother! I don't want this! I don't want it! Please! Please stop it! Stop hurting her!"

Kane's eyes narrowed beneath the mask. _"You pity her. She is undeserving of your pity and I have none to give." He paused a second, considering. "Let me have you AJ. Let me claim you fully and I will remove her from the flames."_

Her eyes still closed, AJ nodded rapidly. "Okay. Okay! I'll do whatever you want." But when she felt Kane's gloved hand lift up her shirt to cup her breast, AJ's eyes popped open immediately. "Wait! What are you doing?! You said you would let her go!"

Kane's massive shoulders shook with silent laughter. _"And I will. After I take you."_ And suddenly he was on top of her, pinning her tiny body with his weight. AJ bucked and squirmed while feeling absolutely powerless. Kane made a complicated gesture with his hand and they were both instantly nude. While struggling, AJ happened to glance down and one look between her captor's legs had her hyperventilating. She gasped for breath, the sight of his large member striking fear within the very core of her being. He was going to split her in two! He was going to kill her!

AJ's screams got lost in the chaotic sounds of the fire just inside the doorway with her mother's agonized shrieks. Her last thought mere seconds before he penetrated her, before she lost consciousness…

_"_ _Ettore! Save me!"_

 


	27. But I'm Still Alive In This Dead Space

Kaitlyn jumped to her feet, alarmed. Though distant, she could hear screaming but couldn't tell if it was AJ or not. Of course, who else could it be?

The Undertaker regarded her alarm with mild disinterest. "Sit down." But at seeing her hesitation he added darkly, "Don't make me force you Kaitlyn. I don't want to hurt you, but I can and I will if you disobey me."

Slowly Kaitlyn took a seat but continued to stare worriedly at the doorway. "But something's happening to AJ!"

"My brother can be somewhat… extreme when it comes to showing affection. AJ will have to learn how to deal with him. She'll have forever to do it just as you'll have eternity to learn how to live with me."

Kaitlyn's eyes narrowed as she took in Undertaker's smug face. "What do you mean "eternity"?"

A deep chuckle rumbled in the Undertaker's chest. "Did you think this was some sort of vacation? That we would only be content to meet you and then send you back? You're here to stay babydoll so you may as well accept it."

Swallowing thickly Kaitlyn looked up at him. "You mean we can't _ever_ go home?"

"You could try," said Undertaker suddenly serious. "The fruit you've been eating since you got here? It doesn't just heal you and make you harder to damage. It orients you to this Side. If you were to go back to where you're from, you'd become violently ill before eventually dying. Truthfully, I'd still claim your soul. You… are… _mine;_ whether you live or die."

Kaitlyn gasped; tears filling her eyes as she clamped both hands over her mouth in horror. She and AJ were trapped here! What were they going to do?

Undertaker chose to ignore her tears and held a hand down to her. "Come with me. You need to eat and then you need to rest."

Embarrassingly enough, Kaitlyn's stomach chose that moment to growl loudly. She flushed a little but stared at his offered hand like a viper was ready to strike. But then slowly she reached up and took it, allowing him to help her up from the chair. What else could she do?

The Undertaker led his trembling prize through hallways and down several flights of stairs. She briefly wondered why the man's hand felt so cold in hers before flitting human like shapes caught her eye. Kaitlyn watched as several ghosts, that she could only assume were slaves like Mr. Lee, floated around, cleaning and straightening up the castle. When they finally arrived in the dining area, Kaitlyn was surprised to see AJ already there. But seeing the state her best friend was in made Kaitlyn sick with worry.

AJ was sitting in the lap of Kane, her eyes dead, her face sallow and pale. She was no longer wearing the crop top and shorts they'd arrived in. Instead she was wearing sheer white long sleeved robe, something like priestess would wear during medieval times. Kaitlyn snatched her hand out of Undertaker's and sprinted towards AJ. She took one of AJ's hand in hers, completely ignoring the monster whose lap she was sitting on and brought the hand up to her face.

"AJ? AJ? I'm here sis, I'm here."

Undertaker sighed deeply before shooting a glare at his brother. _"You're making things harder me Kane. I don't appreciate it."_

Kane rolled his eyes. _"As if you are not above making things difficult for me as well, brother. But it matters not. Once we were alone together, all I could think about was getting between her thighs."_

Undertaker couldn't stop the smirk that appeared on his lips, annoyed or not. _"Was she everything you'd hoped?"_

Kane smiled beneath his mask. _"All and more. She is the one brother. She is perfect."_

Undertaker didn't get a chance to respond however as the floating forms of several of their servants came and deposited trays of food on the large dining room table. Undertaker took a seat across from Kane and AJ and cleared his throat to get Kaitlyn's attention. The girl didn't want to leave her best friend's side but Undertaker's words about disobeying rang in her ears so she reluctantly sat next to him.

In spite of all that had happened Kaitlyn found that the food in front of her was delicious and she ate quickly and quietly. She marveled at the large appetite both men seemed to have though she tried not to look at Kane whom had lifted his mask just enough to free his mouth for eating. When Undertaker and Kane had finished eating she chose that moment to ask for a favor.

"Umm… Undertaker?"

"Yes, babydoll?"

Kaitlyn tried not to cringe at the man's familiar nickname for her. "May I help AJ to eat? She hasn't moved once throughout dinner."

Undertaker watched her carefully for a moment. He was admittedly a bit surprised at her request but it was not an unreasonable one. He took his eyes off of Kaitlyn and stared at Kane.

_"_ _Let her help her friend Kane."_

_"_ _Fine. But she will not take up too much of our time."_

Undertaker looked back down at Kaitlyn at his side and nodded.

"Thank you," whispered Kaitlyn before rising from her chair. She pulled up a seat next to AJ still on Kane's lap and began trying to feed her.

"Come on AJ, please eat." Kaitlyn brought a forkful of fresh greens to her friend's lips, relieved when AJ opened her mouth and took it in. AJ chewed slowly, her eyes downcast. Kaitlyn began to feed AJ a little at a time, counting each forkful swallowed as a small victory. They were about halfway done when Kaitlyn heard a loud, _"Enough!"_ in her head, causing her to drop the fork onto the stone floor.

Kane placed AJ on the floor next to him before standing. He took the tiny girl by the hand and led her out of the dining room.

Kaitlyn watched them leave with a helpless look on her face. Undertaker watched the scene thoughtfully. He had no desire for Kaitlyn to turn into a shell of her former self as AJ had done, even though he strongly suspected AJ's state was only a temporary measure used to protect herself from trauma. Undertaker was going to take his time with Kaitlyn. He wanted her to want him as much as he wanted her. Though the thought of plunging himself into her over and over again while she begged and pleaded for him to stop was appealing, it didn't suit his long term goals.

But that didn't mean he'd completely refrain from touching her, from reveling in her flesh.

"Come Kaitlyn. It's time for bed."

At first Kaitlyn found it difficult to get comfortable enough to go to sleep. She'd never slept in bed with anyone before and to do so in the nude, next to an otherworldly man who'd been planning to kidnap her for over a decade was definitely a mindfuck. It wasn't until Undertaker had whispered some words that sounded like nonsense in her ear that Kaitlyn was finally able to drift off and into a deep, much needed sleep.

_"_ _I love you Kaitlyn." He reached out and twirled some of her two toned hair around one finger, smiling at her._

_Kaitlyn lay on her side in Dolph's bed blushing furiously under his gaze._

_"_ _I love you too." Kaitlyn closed her eyes as Dolph leaned forward touching his lips to hers. They kissed slowly at first, just small teasing pecks, not really indicative of the passion they had for each other._

_Dolph's hand had travelled to Kaitlyn's lower back, bringing her against him. She moaned at the feel of his manhood pressing insistently against her, causing a tight coil of yearning low in her belly. Dolph took advantage of her moan, thrusting his tongue inside her mouth, tasting her deeply, growling a bit as he did so._

_He began to work his way down her body, leaving wet, well placed kissing in his wake. When he reached the juncture of her thighs he looked up to see Kaitlyn staring down at him her eyes heavy lidded, her chest heaving. Dolph smiled gently up at her as he spread her thighs wide leaving her open to his gaze. Seeing how wet she was, beckoned to him and he quickly buried his face in the center of her._

_Kaitlyn surged against Dolph crying out in pleasure. Never in her wildest dreams did she think it could be like this. His mouth was heaven on her most intimate place and she clutched the sheets in desperate handfuls as she felt something, she didn't know what, building within her. The feeling grew stronger and stronger and soon she was gasping, crying, pleading for Dolph to stop… to keep going… to do something! And then suddenly it hit and Kaitlyn's eyes slammed shut as she screamed out his name while she came apart under the licks of his skillful tongue…_

Kaitlyn's first ever orgasm woke her up abruptly out of a sound sleep. She trembled and shook, unsure of what was happening while tendrils of pleasure continued to uncurl within her. Opening her eyes she immediately looked down and was shocked to her very core by what she was seeing. The Undertaker was lying between her legs, working his lips and tongue steadily and insistently over her clit. At some point Kaitlyn had gripped his long black hair while he pleasured her in her sleep and it seemed perilously close to ripping it right out of his head.

Undertaker could feel the difference in tension in Kaitlyn's body and stopped what he was doing to look up at her. Her face was flickering with different emotions with confusion winning out. He chuckled at her, the vibrations from doing so causing her to shiver.

"You're so sweet Kaitlyn. I knew you would be." Then acknowledging her loosening hold on his hair he laughed more. "You don't have to let go babydoll. I don't mind a bit of pain."

Kaitlyn shook her head slowly at him, trying and failing to close her legs. "Please… no more…"

Undertaker smiled at her and it was wicked. "After you come for me again. I think you can give me one more." Kaitlyn was shaking her head, trying to formulate more pleas for him to stop when his lips closed around her clit once more. Against her will, Kaitlyn's body began to tingle once more. The Undertaker slipped one finger inside of her and Kaitlyn's hand found its way to his hair again, gripping it tightly.

Undertaker hummed as he worked, partly for Kaitlyn's benefit and partly because he was just that enamored of her taste. Her second orgasm came swiftly and her thighs slammed shut of their own volition as she cried out. Slowly she came down from her peak, releasing her death grip on his hair and opening her thighs to release his head. The Undertaker crawled up the length of her body and stared into her eyes. His control was tenuous at best but at seeing the fear and confusion in her eyes Undertaker fell to the side of her instead, wrapping an arm around her waist. He whispered the same spell in her ear from the night before and smiled as she peacefully drifted off to sleep in his arms.

 


	28. And It Keeps Happening, Over And Over Again

Big E sat bolt upright in bed, his chest heaving, tears stinging his eyes. He'd had another nightmare about AJ. It was similar to the night in the woods, when she and Kaitlyn had been thrown into the vortex. But this time it was only Big E and AJ being held captive by Dean Ambrose. They were inside the clubhouse and Dean was roughly handling AJ while leering at Big E and shouting out all the obscene things he wanted to do to the girl. Big E hadn't been able to move, he was held in place by invisible bonds while Dean's hands roamed her body, those ice blue eyes trained on his, his mouth turned up in a cruel smirk. AJ had cried, cried for him and he could do nothing but watch.

Ettore shook his head violently hoping he'd be able to keep his stomach contents down. This was becoming a nightly occurrence. He'd been having nightmares about AJ in varying forms since he first woke from the coma two months ago. Ettore felt that he was being punished, and rightly so, for failing AJ in such a spectacular fashion. And even worse, Dolph had been coming by every other day attempting to speak with him. Big E simply couldn't face him and so his mother had been the one to send Dolph away every single time.

_"_ _Eventually I'm going to run into him," thought Big E as he reclined back in the bed. "The town is just too damn small. He's going to want my help to find them… But I can't! I can't do it! I can't fail her again…"_

Dolph sat at his desk in his bedroom, the clicking of the computer keys filling the silence. His parents thought he was getting back on track since his return to school. They didn't seem to notice his weight loss or the bags under his eyes. As of right now, Dolph hadn't slept in 48 hours. He spent all his free time either in the town library or on the computer. At this moment he was searching for information on portals and vortexes, hoping to find anything no matter how small that could be used to help find AJ and Kaitlyn.

The beauty with the two toned hair was never far from his thoughts. Dolph's bedroom was at the back of the house, facing the tree that he and Kaitlyn had shared their first kiss on. When taking breaks from studying or his research into portals and the unknown he'd often stare at the tree, remembering that one perfect afternoon with the girl that he loved.

After spending hundreds of hours online, Dolph finally found a website that seemed promising. It was a very basic site, something that someone with limited knowledge of html and coding probably set up, but the things that were on it…

"This is it!" whispered Dolph excitedly. "The guy that runs this site… He's seen a vortex before. I know it!"

The description of the vortex was identical to the one the girls had been thrown into, down to the crackling of electricity and how no light escaped it. Unfortunately the rest of the writings and accounts by the website's owner were hard to understand if not downright strange. Dolph leaned back in his chair after favoriting the page for ease of access.

"Well… It's a start at least."

Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins watched worriedly as their leader Dean Ambrose tore his bedroom apart in a rage.

"I don't get it! I just don't fucking get it! He promised me AJ, he promised me my Doll! And now? Nothing! Nothing! I can't goddamn hear him anymore!" That last word was punctuated by hurling a remote control at the mirror on the door, shattering it.

Roman cleared his throat trying to get Dean's attention. When Ambrose turned to him, the look he saw on his friend's face made him shiver. "It's okay man. We'll figure something out. But you've got to calm down."

"Yeah," added Seth, trying to keep his voice low and calm as Roman had done. "Maybe he'll talk to you again soon. You just gotta be patient pal."

Dean turned his back on his friends, trying hard to slow his breathing and listen to them. "But I've never gone this long without hearing his voice in my head. Not since I found that fucking vortex last year. He's always been in here." Dean smacked the side of his head repeatedly at the end of that sentence.

Ambrose turned back around and had decidedly maniacal grin on his face. It was a look that made Reigns sweat and Seth chuckle. It meant that sooner or later things were going to get wild and Dean would be in the center of it all.

"Boys… The next vortex that shows up, we're going in. We're going in, to find my Doll and bring her ass back here."


End file.
